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Bitcoin Loses $800 in Valuation in Just Two Hours: Market Being Manipulated by Whales and Exchanges

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Within the past 24 hours, cryptocurrency whales and exchanges have had a field day manipulating Bitcoin price which has led to its current value of $7,979

Within the past 24 hours, cryptocurrency whales and exchanges have had a field day manipulating Bitcoin’s price which has led to its current value of $7,979. What you may have noticed, is that the price is below the $8,000 level that was maintained in over a week. It’s even more disturbing to know that Bitcoin lost $800 in value in just two hours.

Bitcoin Retraces After a Major Comeback

Many would agree that Bitcoin has made a good comeback in the past few months starting from April, but very few will applaud its most recent performance. On June 4, 2019, at 00:14 UTC +1:00, the top cryptocurrency by market cap dumped in price from around $8,500 to $7,900. It’s market capitalization of $150 billion also declined to $141 billion, recording a loss of over $9 billion within two hours.

While that may look like another day of volatility in the crypto space, there is more to the drop in price. The first plausible cause is a huge transfer of 25,160 BTC to Coinbase, a U.S. based cryptocurrency exchange. A whale supposedly sold the virtual asset for about $215 million on Coinbase.

Now, that was not the end of their scheme as several Bitcoin purchases were made shortly after the sell. WhaleAlert, a platform that monitors the movement of large amounts of Bitcoin also reported that an hour later, 14,160 BTC (worth $112M) was transferred from Coinbase to another wallet. Similarly, 11,000 BTC ($88M) and 10,000,000 USDT ($10M) were also moved from the exchange to other wallets.

Whale Realizes $15 Million in Profit After Huge Sell Off

What this all boils down to, is that someone somewhere carted away $15 million in profit from selling off 25,160 BTC for $215 million and buying it back for $200 million. Considering the later, it looks like a good deal since they still own the same amount of Bitcoin with a few million sitting in their account. But at whose expense?

The cryptocurrency community, on the other hand, have mixed reactions about the sudden drop in price especially when another bull run was expected. This is because, on May 30, 2019, Bitcoin had spiked to its year-to-date high of about $9,000. Even when it retraced sharply, it was still able to maintain an $8,700 price tag.

Cryptocurrency Community’s Comments on Whale Manipulation

A closer look at the comments of Redditors shows that a number of people are not totally deterred with the current turn out of the market. A number of them have aired their views that people are only impressed when whales manipulate the market to increase prices. According to them, if we’re excited when Bitcoin gains $1,000 within a day, then we should swallow the pill easily that it could lose $600 within a few minutes.

Another user backing the comment said:

“People only complain when the “manipulation” is going against their position in the market, but it’s how all markets work: market makers (ie. institutional investors) move the market in their favor because they have the ability to do so.”

More comments in that direction are from users who believe Bitcoin is not an investment in comparison to companies that offer a product in return for profit. In their opinion, those who claim to invest in Bitcoin are merely speculating since they are waiting in hopes that the prices will kick in anytime soon.

EOS, Stellar, and Other Altcoins Have Been Affected by Price Drop

These aside, the price of altcoins have also been negatively impacted by Bitcoin’s sharp drop in price. Bitcoin’s 24-hour loss is 6 percent, but the likes of EOS, Stellar, NEM, Tezos, and Bitcoin cash are battling a higher loss over the same period. EOS, for instance, has declined by 9.23 percent according to CoinMarketCap’s platform.

Nevertheless, Bitcoin SV has decided to be the last man standing by experiencing gains despite the turmoil in the market. As at press time, it had garnered 1.91 percent increment in price. A closer look at its charts shows that it had declined from a price of $235 when Bitcoin dumped but it is currently recovering based on its current price of $223.

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