Bitcoin price drops below $20,000 for the first time since late 2020

Square, another payments company, has bought $50 million in Bitcoin and changed its name to Block, in part to denote its work with blockchain technology. Tesla bought $1.5 billion from it. Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz raised $4.5 billion for a fourth crypto-focused fund, doubling its previous fund.

The excitement came to a head in April of last year when Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, went public at a valuation of $85 billion, Industry’s next party. Bitcoin crossed $60,000 for the first time.

Last summer, El Salvador announced that it would become the first country to classify bitcoin as a legal currency, along with the US dollar. The head of state updated his Twitter profile picture to include laser eyes, a calling card for bitcoin believers. El Salvador has invested $105 million in Bitcoin cut in half Where the price has fallen.

Senators and mayors across the United States have begun to promote cryptocurrency as an industry Spent heavily on lobbying. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who was elected in November, said he will take his first three Bitcoin salaries. Senators Cynthia Loomis, R-Wyoming, and Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York, proposed legislation that would create a regulatory framework for the industry, giving more powers to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, an agency with which crypto firms have dealt openly.

Through frenzy, celebrities fueled fear of missing out, flog NFTs on talk shows and talk about blockchain projects on social media. This year, the Super Bowl Featured Four adverts for crypto companies, including Matt Damon warning viewers that “wealth favors the brave.”

This exaggerated optimism faltered this spring, as the stock market collapsed, and inflation soared Layoffs hit the tech sector. Investors are starting to lose faith in their investments in cryptocurrencies, moving funds to less risky assets. Several high-profile projects crashed amid the pullouts. TerraForm Labs, which created TerraUSD, the so-called Stablecoin, and Celsius, an experimental coin bank, both collapsed, wiping out billions in value and sending the broader market into a meltdown.