Why bitcoin fell 7% in the last 24 hours

The cryptocurrency fell sharply and was trading around US$81,000.

January was a rollercoaster for the “digital gold,” but the last 24 hours left a clearly negative balance for bitcoin, which was trading at US$81,300 yesterday at 11:30 PM - a number it hadn't seen since early April of last year, and far from the US$90,000 it had been recording lately.

At 12:30 PM this Friday, the cryptocurrency showed a slight rebound and was around US$82,500. Among the main reasons for the drop, according to the platform CoinMarketCap, are the recent nomination of a Fed chair, something that frightened the markets and may have prompted risk-averse movements. According to the platform: “Bitcoin fell 4% a few hours after Trump nominated Kevin Warsh, a Fed chair candidate favorable to cryptocurrencies, but focused on controlling inflation.”

Yesterday, the digital gold dropped to US$81,000, numbers it hadn't seen since early April of last year. In that sense, Julián Colombo, director of Bitso for South America, notes that “for more than a week, global markets have been very volatile and with pronounced movements, reacting to new statements by Donald Trump about trade and geopolitical policies.