Starting in November of that year, the UK-based asset management firm Ruffer Investments became one of the first large institutional investors to place a bet on BTC and The Market .
In early 2021, Ruffer effectively jumped on the bandwagon when other fund managers were only warming up to crypto, enticed by its promise of large profits.
When bitcoin’s price hit $65,000 at the beginning of the year, even Ruffer was caught aback by the rapidity of the rise. Ruffer also cashed in. As a result, the market seemed unstable.
Cryptocurrencies and decentralized financial systems were predicted to be hot topics in 2021. True to form, the promise has been kept. Fiscal stimulus and continuous quantitative easing have also contributed to an increase in surplus liquidity. In April, MacInnes noted, “Excess liquidity seemed to be peaking.”
It was stated in June by the Sunday Times that Ruffer had profited by 1.1 billion dollars in only a period of five months. Many crypto-market indicators were showing warnings of excessive purchasing activity which resulted in the increase of digital asset’s price. For instance, BTC value reached its peak after April’s top price. Review of BTC and The Market
BTC Now And Beyond (BTC and The Market )
The year 2021 is drawing to a close, and Bitcoin is still the world’s most popular cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency’s value has increased dramatically over the last 52 weeks, beating other major financial assets like gold. As we mentioned, during the previous weeks, the price of Bitcoin has risen by 72%. When it comes to comparing bitcoin 2017 vs 2021, investors can find out that the currency itself is similarly volatile, however, the price of BTC reached its peak in 2021 when it surpassed the highest value of BTC in 2017. After surpassing its 2017 all-time high of $20,000 before the end of 2020, Bitcoin started trading over $32k per coin in 2021. Cryptocurrency prices rose sharply in 2021, exceeding the previous year’s peak of $64,000 by April.
As more corporations entered the crypto market, the price rose. Cryptocurrency’s price surged to an all-time high of $64,000 as institutional and individual investors alike began to take notice of it.
The bans on bitcoin mining in China’s different regions were the beginning of the trend. The majority of Bitcoin’s hash rate was generated in China. In July, Bitcoin’s value dropped by more than half and fell below $30k.
Several Chinese bitcoin exchanges have shut down. Alibaba and Bitmain have both ceased selling cryptocurrency mining gear to Chinese customers.
Elon Musk’s assault on Bitcoin and its high energy use were significant factors in the downturn. As a result of environmental concerns about its energy use for mining, Tesla has removed Bitcoin as a payment mechanism.
Miners relocated to Europe and North America, which helped to boost Bitcoin’s price in September. In nations like Kazakhstan, Iran, Canada, and the United States, mining farms and other individual miners sought new homes and the mining hash rate began to recover.
Bitcoin is presently selling at roughly $50k per coin, down almost 30 percent from its all-time high. Due to selling pressure in China, which has led to the recent dismal performance of the Bitcoin market, Chinese traders are selling their bitcoins before losing money. But, it’s worth mentioning that cryptocurrency expert Kate Waltman predicts that Bitcoin will hit $100,000 by the first quarter of 2022.
Crypto And ESG Concerns
Bitcoin blockchain power use was recently brought up in a new round of discussions by Elon Musk, the billionaire Tesla CEO who made headlines earlier this year for his on-and-off fascination with the digital currency. A few days before the end of May, Musk sent a tweet saying he had discussed the use of renewable energy sources with bitcoin miners. He wasn’t fully abandoning bitcoin, which gave disheartened bulls a glimmer of optimism.
When Bitcoin Mining Council, a group of miners and significant investors, including MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor, announced its formation on May 24, the price of BTC surged by about 12 percent. There were other traders who started to purchase the drop when the panic from the April sell-off faded.
As the intense selling pressure subsided in June, the price of Bitcoin remained stable at around $30,000. The price decline from April to June is seen in the graph below. A new price range was established throughout the course of July and August as various technical indications showed that BTC’s value was overvalued.
In the views of crypto traders, was this a stop in the downward trend or a foundation for a new leg up?
There was less volatility in the price of bitcoin, and it seemed that many investors still had faith in the currency’s long-term viability. To decrease or offset their environmental imprint, Bitcoin miners said they were searching for methods to do so, and a large portion of the network’s mining capacity was moved out of China.
The BTC and the market also seemed to be calmer since traders were not utilizing as much leverage. A lack of bubbles, in other words.