The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, declined over the weekend. The dominant cryptocurrency fell by 19.5% from record highs hit in the past week.
On Sunday, April 18, it dipped to $52,148.98 after hitting a lifetime high of above $64,800 on Wednesday. Remarkably, Bitcoin was last trading just above $55,795.
Additionally, other cryptocurrencies, such as ether and Dogecoin, also fell over the weekend. The price of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, Ethereum, lost 18% and traded below $2,000 on Sunday. However, now, the cryptocurrency is trading over $2,220. On Thursday, Ether hit record highs, reaching $2,500.
Furthermore, Dogecoin declined to 24 cents this weekend. Remarkably, it increased by more than 400% last week and hit a lifetime high of 45 cents.
Crypto analysts say that it’s unclear what exactly is driving the dip.
An unverified report on Twitter remarked that the U.S. Treasury Department could crack down on financial institutions for money laundering using cryptocurrency.
Moreover, Twitter account @Fxhedgers published a post mentioning the possibility of a crackdown. The user was citing unnamed sources, and the tweet went viral on Saturday evening.
However, the U.S. Treasury Department didn’t immediately respond to the request for comment.
Coinbases went public, which gave a boost to the rest of the crypto industry
The cryptocurrencies reached record highs this past week amid the excitement surrounding the stock market debut of cryptocurrency trading platform Coinbase. Coinbase became the largest cryptocurrency firm to go public on Wednesday. The company’s blockbuster direct listing briefly valued Coinbase at around $100 billion (before dropping to just over $62 billion by the end of the week). Notably, it gave a boost to the rest of the cryptocurrency industry.
Although sharp rally, some investors have been concerned that cryptocurrencies, like bitcoin, are experiencing a bubble.
Additionally, the recent spike by dogecoin, which started as a joke based on the 2013 Doge meme, has boosted concerns of a bubble in the crypto market.
