Bitcoin fell sharply on Thursday 17th August by 9% to just over $26,000
The fall in Bitcoin followed several hours after reports emerged that SpaceX, one of Elon Musk’s enterprises, wrote down the value of its Bitcoin holdings by a total of $373 million in 2022 and 2021, and that the space travel company had sold the virtual currency.
This is likely one of the fastest minute-by-minute selloffs in the history of Bitcoin but this is largely an Elon Musk/SpaceX-driven selloff and probably short-sighted and largely retail-driven. But still, 9% is a big drop for any asset!
In 2022, Tesla, which Musk also owns, announced that it sold about 75% of its Bitcoin holdings after investing $1.5 billion in the flagship cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin had been under pressure earlier, starting after the Federal Reserve issued the minutes from its July policy meeting. In Thursday’s session, the cryptocurrency slumped to its lowest level in almost two months.