Bitcoin values have been increasing in volatility recently, experiencing more sudden surges and drops more often than usual.
On Thursday, the cryptocurrency dropped to roughly $11,383 after reaching its 18-month high mark of $14,000 at the beginning of this week. It then closed at a decent $12,827 as the day ended.
In terms of volatility, Bitcoin managed to drop and rise up again by over $2,000 within a span of 30 minutes, the highest spread since January 2018’s $2,275. Over 81 million BTC were also traded on Bitstamp and Coinbase and 46 billion BTC on CoinMarketCap in a 24-hour period between Wednesday and Thursday.
Interest for cryptocurrency has once again been renewed after Facebook’s unveiling of Project Libra, the social media network’s very own digital currency that they are hoping will become the next big digital currency of the world. According to ThinkMarkets’ chief market analyst Naeem Aslam’s Forbes column, “The strong resurgence in the Bitcoin price is mainly due to the renewed mainstream interest in cryptocurrencies and the technology that underlines it. Projects like Facebook’s Libra have provided a much-needed tailwind for this space.”
Currently, Libra is being geared as the upgraded version of PayPal and a seamless payment method for all Facebook-owned platforms. This doesn’t mean, however, that it wants to overtake Bitcoin. More and more investors have been starting to invest in Libra, but Bitcoin remains the world’s largest cryptocurrency. It has already surged by about 260% since April, although it’s still far from the $20,000 value it reached back in December 2017. Libra, on the other hand, wants to stave off the volatility by becoming a stablecoin for the US dollar instead.
“Many want to pit Libra vs. Bitcoin. In my mind, these two are not in the same category.” Calibra head David Marcus said in a tweet. “BTC is a decorrelated (investment) asset. Libra is designed to be a stable medium-of-exchange. I have been, and remain a fan of BTC, but for very different purposes.”
