The recent price action from Bitcoin (BTC) has caught the attention of both supporters and critics. Following the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in the United States on January 11, BTC experienced a spike, breaking past the $48,000 mark.
This surge, however, proved to be short-lived. Over the past 24 hours, BTC’s value has seen a significant downturn, trading below $39,000, marking a decline of nearly 5%.
The ripple effects of this decline extend beyond just market value. The global crypto market is also facing a surge in liquidations, with total liquidations reaching roughly $345 million, affecting over 130,000 traders, according to data from Coinglass.
Economist Reacts To Bitcoin’s Plunge So Far
Following BTC’s consistent decline in the past day, prominent Bitcoin critic and economist Peter Schiff commented on the situation, expressing surprise at how the asset still trades at $39,000 and the relative orderliness of BTC’s decline.
Schiff noted: “I’m surprised it’s still this high, as the decline has been surprisingly orderly.” His remarks suggest an expectation of a steeper drop.
#CNBC finally mentioned #Bitcoin this morning, after ignoring yesterday’s decline. @BeckyQuick seemed surprised that Bitcoin was “actually trading below $40K” (more surprised that it’s below $39K). I’m surprised it’s still this high, as the decline has been surprisingly orderly.
— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) January 23, 2024
While Schiff comment interprets that BTC could still drop more as its current trading price below $39,000 region is still “high,” CEO of Jan3 and well-known Bitcoin advocate Samson Mow has expressed skepticism regarding the likelihood of BTC’s value plummeting to $30,000.
Mow addressed circulating speculations about investors anticipating a drop to this level, seeing it as an opportunity to accumulate more BTC. The Bitcoin advocate noted, disclosing that investors expecting BTC price to dip to $30,000 or $0.03M (Million) as he mentioned will be “disappointed.”
From what I’m hearing, a good amount of investors are thinking #Bitcoin will drop to the low $0.03M range and waiting to buy then. I think they’ll be disappointed.
— Samson Mow (@Excellion) January 22, 2024
Grayscale’s Role And On-Chain Discrepancies
It is worth noting that these developments come against BTC’s ongoing dip partly attributed to crypto asset manager Grayscale, BTC outflows. Speaking of the outflow, the crypto asset manager has recently been scrutinized.
CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju has highlighted an on-chain “discrepancy” between the disclosed holdings of the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and the actual reserve tracked through on-chain addresses.
This discrepancy raises questions about the transparency and accuracy of GBTC’s off-chain disclosures compared to on-chain data.
On-chain data appears to be a leading indicator for ETF fund execution.
There’s still a 19.5k $BTC gap between on-chain $GBTC Bitcoin holdings and off-chain disclosures, indicating on-going pressure on GBTC.https://t.co/HrkV3TUGJT pic.twitter.com/Px0iDQxpoq
— Ki Young Ju (@ki_young_ju) January 19, 2024
featured image from Unsplash, Chart from TradingView