Bitcoin fell below $ 30,000 this Tuesday (06/22/2021) for the first time in five months, affected by measures in China against the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. At around 12:30 GMT, bitcoin lost 9% of its value to $ 29,624 and reached its lowest level since January.
The volatile cryptocurrency continues to rise 2.2% since the beginning of the year, but its current price is 54% at its all-time high, reached in mid-April ($ 64,870).
“Concerns about the Chinese government’s adjustment measures and fear that the acceptance of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be delayed due to their impact on the environment are weighing on the market,” said Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets.
China orders a halt to the industry
The Chinese government is carrying out a campaign to curb the bitcoin mining industry, which is what that market calls the computers that make the cryptocurrency work, decentralized, approving transactions and creating new units.
According to former cryptocurrency producers, energy providers in China’s Sichuan province were ordered to stop supplying electricity to those companies before Sunday.
“This position is a new hard blow for the market,” said Timo Emden, an analyst specializing in cryptocurrencies. “The importance of China to the industry is now liable to decline rapidly,” he warned.
Mining machines operate on a bitcoin farm in Mabian Yi Autonomous County, southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
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Chinese Government measures and criticism for high electricity consumption
Bitcoin started the year on wheels. Since the end of 2020, bitcoin has been gaining the interest of more and more institutional investors, such as Wall Street banks and industrial groups such as vehicle manufacturer Tesla.
In addition, some individual investors see cryptocurrency as a good means of placing part of their savings made during the pandemic.
Thus, the cryptocurrency market – whose largest asset is still by far bitcoin – grew to almost $ 2.5 trillion in mid-May.
But since then, the measures of the Chinese government and the criticism it has aroused for the significant use of electricity on its network have caused it to lose popularity.
Iran seizes 7,000 cryptocurrency computer miners
For the same reason, the Iranian police seized 7,000 mining computers on Tuesday in an illegal cryptocurrency farm, the largest loot to date from these machines that consume a lot of energy and that have aggravated electricity cuts in Iran, according to the media of state communication.
In late May, Iran banned mining of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin for nearly four months as part of efforts to reduce the incidence of blackouts that authorities blame on increased demand for electricity during the scorching, dry summer.
According to blockchain analytics company Elliptic, around 4.5% of all bitcoin mining takes place in Iran, providing you with hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue from cryptocurrencies that can be used to lessen the impact of cryptocurrencies. US sanctions.
FEW (AFP, Reuters)
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