Cryptocurrency prices continued to decline today, Sunday, February 20, 2022, amid growing fears of risky assets trading.
By 07:44 GMT Sunday morning, the market value of cryptocurrencies decreased today by 4.53%, to record regarding 1.75 trillion dollars.
The market decline coincides with the sharp decline that hit all markets amid increasing geopolitical pressures on asset markets with the escalation of the crisis on the border between Ukraine and Russia.
In addition, pressures from the US Federal Reserve regarding the strength of the Fed’s next move to contain inflation are putting pressure on the attractiveness of high-risk assets such as stocks and digital assets.
Bitcoin (the world’s most popular cryptocurrency) lost 3.86% of its value during early trading today, Sunday, to fall below the $39,000 level.
Bitcoin fell near the levels of $ 38.7 thousand, a decline of 4%, while its market value fell by nearly $ 90 billion.
The market value of Bitcoin is $736 billion, while it recorded $825 billion a day ago, when it succeeded in exceeding the $44,000 level.
Analysts believe that the decline of Bitcoin below the levels of 38 thousand and the failure of speculators to maintain the current price levels above 38 thousand dollars may push the currency to the levels of 36 thousand dollars and then to the levels of 33 thousand dollars.
Bitcoin is down 9% in a week while it is down more than 19% since the beginning of the year, and Bitcoin has recorded losses of more than 50% of its value, since its record high in November.
Encrypted digital currencies, specifically Bitcoin, are exposed to many challenges and pressures imposed by the central banks of countries such as Russia, India, China, Turkey and Malaysia.
Cryptocurrency regulations in Europe
The European Union Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, declared at the Munich Security Conference that “the EU is open to cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin or the digital euro, but that regulations must first be strengthened to prevent fraud.”
“I am not comfortable with digital currencies, but we need to regulate them in an appropriate way, so that criminal organizations and terrorists cannot take advantage of the anonymity that some networks allow,” Johansson added.
Johansson emphasized the importance of regulating cryptocurrencies to prevent fraud. Also attending the session were Sam Bankmann-Fried, CEO and co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, and German entrepreneur Christian Angermeyer, who co-founded Cryptology Assist Group.
Bankman acknowledged the dangers of criminals using cryptocurrency, but said the platforms have significantly strengthened oversight mechanisms. “Financial institutions often protect their own interests,” Angermayr said, while billions around the world without bank accounts are cut off from the financial system. “This situation can be fixed by the proliferation of blockchain technologies embedded in cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, and the opportunity to digitize currencies such as the US dollar and the euro,” she added.
For her part, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde said that “the investigation of the digital euro is part of the bank’s duties,” explaining that Europe is more receptive than China, which has recently moved towards banning all cryptocurrency transactions.
Despite European acceptance of cryptocurrencies, Lagarde still views them as highly speculative and shady assets, not currencies, as she said on The David Rabinstein Show last September.
Bitcoin now consumes 0.6 percent of the world’s electricity, according to figures from the Cambridge Bitcoin Electricity Consumption Index. Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies, are minted through a Proof of Work system, which financially incentivizes miners to use more computing power – and thus electricity – to validate blockchain transactions and earn tokens.
Europe has become a hotspot for innovation and investment in the cryptocurrency industry. In 2021, the UK became the most prominent country in Europe for cryptocurrency transactions, with deals worth $170 billion.
Central, Northern and Western Europe (CNWE) had the largest cryptocurrency economy in the world, receiving more than $1 trillion in digital assets over the course of 2020, according to a report by Chain Analysis.
Cryptocurrency rates today
The price of the digital currency Bitcoin BTC decreased by 3.64% to reach $38825.64.
The price of the Ethereum coin (ETH) fell by 5.74% to $2,653.09.
The price of the Binance coin BNB lost 5.87% to reach $381.36.
The price of the cardano ADA coin decreased by 6.63% to record $0.9478.
XRP fell 0.67% to $0.7902.
The price of the Polkadot DOT coin fell 6.32% to $16.96.
The price of the DOGE coin (Dogecoin) decreased by 4.86% to $0.137.
The price of Litecoin (LTC) fell by 5.56% to reach $110.42.
Chainlink LINK price lost 5.01% to $14.72.
