Lily Zhang, the chief financial officer of Huobi Group, attributed bitcoin’s fall this week to troubles at prominent crypto lender Celsius, plus weak global markets. shauryamalwa and JPRubin23 report
Bitcoin extended its losing streak to a record nine days and neared the $20,000 level after Asian markets closed. The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization is down 30% decline over the past week.
“We believe that the immediate trigger for the crypto crash appears to be a massive sell-off by investors amid the pausing of withdrawal services by crypto lending firm Celsius,” Zhang told CoinDesk in an email, adding the development came as crypto traders were just recovering from the implosion of Terra last month.
Meanwhile, Huobi’s Zhang says the market could see further declines as more liquidations occur and players are forced to sell. Sentiment among other crypto traders remains mixed. BitMEX founder Arthur Hayes fears the market has not yet hit rock bottom, and we could see a massive sell-off in cryptocurrencies if bitcoin falls below $20,000. Elsewhere, Galaxy Digital head Mike Novogratz said in a tweet that bitcoin is close to the “bottom” and will hold above $20,000.