Red!
That’s the colour of every cryptocurrency price chart. Bitcoin (BTC) price which has rebounded thanks to a powerful rally in recent months, is suddenly on the decline over the last few days. The crypto is currently valued at $8,820 (as at press time), after going down 4.02% in the last 24 hours.
Similarly, other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin each lost about 4%.
These recent drops come after Bitcoin was touted as a safe-haven asset after it barely budged even when global stocks were falling, following coronavirus fears. That in itself was a surprising feat for the currency which has a long history of being volatile and affected by even the slightest occurrences.
Following that feat, many people turned to Bitcoin to store their assets following crashes on the stock market.
Now it seems the coronavirus is finally catching up with cryptos and inflicting negative effects on cryptocurrency prices. Bitcoin has steadily been falling beyond the $9,000s and $10,000 mark where it has hovered for a long time.
There are of course conflicts among expert as regards the future of Bitcoin and other cryptos. While a few technical gauges see a further downfall of cryptocurrency prices, some others believe cryptos could surge again should anything inflationary happen to fiat currencies as many will turn to crypto to save their assets as usual.
Nevertheless, one thing is established, the coronavirus has had negative effects on the global economy and the tech ecosystem.
Recently, the prestigious GSMA Mobile World Congress scheduled to hold this month at Barcelona, Spain, was cancelled. The cancellation became necessary after major players like Sony, Amazon, Intel and others pulled out of the event due to fears about the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19).
Also, global phone manufacturer, Apple warned of lower revenues in Q1 2020 because of the coronavirus impact. This is because the company which Apple has contracted to make up to 80 million phones have their manufacturing centre in China.
Thus, they would be affected by the continuous outbreak of the virus. With around 15% of Apple’s revenue coming from the region with many of its products being made there, this is a blow to the company.
The coronavirus has killed over 2000 persons since its outbreak, with several other thousands confirmed to be infected. With a definite vaccine still not available, the impacts of this virus are may grow.