Cryptocurrency markets sag as funds drained from FTX switch out of ether and other tokens
- Bitcoin traded at about US$16,000 as of 11:45am, a far cry from its November 2021 record high of almost US$69,000 while ether hovered around US$1,120
- Meme token Dogecoin – an arbiter of the most speculative animus in an already racy digital playground – is down 11 per cent
Cryptocurrency prices struggled on Monday in the ongoing crisis sparked by the downfall of Sam Bankman-Fried’s once-powerful FTX empire.
The largest token bitcoin has shed about 4 per cent over two days, while second-ranked ether is roughly 7 per cent lower. Meme token Dogecoin – an arbiter of the most speculative animus in an already racy digital playground – is down 11 per cent.
Administrators are picking over the wreckage of the FTX bankruptcy, discovering that US$3.1 billion is owed to top creditors. The scope of the money outstanding is stoking worries that more digital-asset outfits will topple.
Cryptocurrency lender BlockFi could be next: people with knowledge of the matter said last week that it is preparing to file for bankruptcy within days.
“The FTX issues are really an urgent reminder of the need for regulatory clarity and a real regulatory framework for cryptocurrency,” Christian Catalini, founder of the MIT Cryptoeconomics Lab, said on Bloomberg Television.
He added that hype and speculation over the minting and trading of tokens “has generated a massive distraction from building actual products and services that reach consumers, solve actual problems”.