Bitcoin Sinks to Two-Month Low

Following reports that the South Korean Coinrail cryptocurrency exchange had been hacked over the weekend, bitcoin prices fell nearly 10 percent, and they continued their decline into Wednesday, when the cryptocurrency hit a two-month low. After hitting a low of $6,455.91 in the early Asian morning, bitcoin rebounded slightly. As reported by Coinbase, bitcoin was trading at $6587.50 as of 1:00 p.m. HK/SIN on Wednesday. The cryptocurrency is down over 20 percent this month and more than 50 percent since the start of 2018.

On the technical level, analysts have commented that once bitcoin breached the $7,000 level it became more difficult for the cryptocurrency to recover quickly. Other cryptocurrencies have also struggled in the wake of the hacking. Ethereum has fallen nearly 6 percent in the past 24 hours, CNBC reported. Ethereum was last trading at $496.98. Ethereum is the second-largest cryptocurrency as measured by market cap. Ripple was also down nearly 6 percent for the day.

The U.S. dollar strengthened on Wednesday in advance of the Federal Reserve’s policy meeting conclusion which could provide hints about how many more interest rate hikes will be coming this year. The dollar hit a three-week high against the yen of 110.68, and it was trading at 110.63, a 0.25 percent increase, just after noon in Hong Kong. The dollar also advanced against most of its other trading partners including the Australian dollar, the Swiss franc, the Canadian dollar and the British pound. The greenback was unchanged against the euro as traders waited for announcements from both the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank today and later this week. The dollar index was up 0.06 percent to 93.88 .DXY.

Sara Patterson
Sara Patterson has a Master’s Degree in political science and enjoys analyzing both current events and the international markets to get a fuller perspective of the currency market. Before turning to financial writing, she taught English writing skills to high-school age students. Sara’s work has been published on various financial and Forex blogs.