This year's Boxing Day sales seem to have started a day earlier for anyone hoping to get a number one digital exposure at a discounted rate. The price of Bitcoin and those of other encrypted ones have fallen dramatically since the clock hit midnight last night and since then this trend has continued.
Just as Christmas Eve turned into a Christmas day (at least in the UK), the price of Bitcoin was around $ 4.080. Its total market capitalization has since been close to $ 5 billion and the cost of a single Bitcoin is $ 3,816 at the time of writing.
Xmas Bitcoin Price Drop: is there a delay of Bakkt?
The precise cause of the market selloff this morning is unknown. However, some are speculating that it could be related to the rumor that the launch of the Bakkt platform of the Intercontinental Exchange has been postponed for the second time:
what I see for today and tomorrow for $ BTC. the only thing that will hurt is the cause of the panic sellers #bakkt be extended pic.twitter.com/ol8IOiPA7D
– W҈o҈l҈f҈O҈f҈C҈r҈y҈p҈t҈o҈ (@ MaxieX9) December 25, 2018
Although several cryptocurrency news publications have already reported the story, there is still no official word from Bakkt himself to suggest that the launch will actually be delayed. Since it's Christmas Day, however, this is normal.
Reports suggest that the Bakkt platform does not yet have the necessary approval from the US Commodities and Futures Trading Commission. Of course, this does not mean that Bakkt will not get the green light from the regulator, but it seems unlikely that it will arrive in time for the launch of late January, which has already been rescheduled once, in November of this year.
The price of Bitcoin continues to drive the rest of the cryptocurrency market
It's not just the Bitcoin price that's stealing this Christmas day. As seems to be the norm, the rest of the cryptocurrency market is taking a dip in the nose. Unlike Ether, XRP, Stellar, EOS and Litecoin, they all suffered double-digit percentage decrements.
Leading the top ten in terms of losses, however, is Bitcoin Cash (formerly known as Bitcoin Cash ABC). The cryptocurrency that detached itself from the original Bitcoin chain in August 2017 and, more recently, has been divided into Bitcoin Cash ABC and Bitcoin Cash. Satoshi's vision has lost almost 20% of its price in the last 24 hours.
A probable cause for the current selling pressure of the BCH is that Bitmain, one of the biggest supporters of Bitcoin Cash, is said to be leaving more than 50% of its workforce.
Samson Mow from Blockstream tweeted:
"Bitmain has quietly fired the whole Copernicus team – just a week notice – some just joined the company – layoffs just in time for Christmas."
Some believe that the actual number is much higher:
Our interlocutor says that 75% of all people will be let go https://t.co/F5lVB04waC
– BTCKING555 (@ btcking555) December 25, 2018
Rumors emerged less than a month after the mining hardware giant announced that they were closing their Israeli development center, which, of course, involved a large number of layoffs.
NewsBTC will bring you more about this story, as well as rumors about Bakkt's delay developing.
Related reading: Bakkt and Intercontinental Exchange CEOs weigh in About Bakkt
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