NEW YORK (AP): It’s been a wild week in crypto, even by crypto standards.
Bitcoin tumbled, stablecoins were anything but stable and one of the crypto industry’s highest-profile companies lost a third of its market value.
The price of bitcoin dropped to around $25,420 this week, its lowest level since December 2020, according to CoinDesk.
It steadied around $30,000 Friday, but that’s still less than half the price bitcoin fetched last November.
Some bitcoin proponents have said the digital currency could protect its holders against inflation and act as a hedge against a decline in the stock market.
Lately, it’s done neither. Inflation at the consumer level rose 8.3% in April compared to a year ago, a level last seen in the early ’80′s.
With the Federal Reserve aggressively raising interest rates to try to tamp down inflation, investors are dumping risky assets, including stocks and crypto.
The S&P 500 is down more than 15% this year. Bitcoin has dropped about 37% year to date.
Other cryptos have fared just as poorly. Ethereum has dropped 44% and dogecoin, a cryptocurrency favored by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, has lost about half its value.