The crypto exchange collapsed the crypto market

Bitcoin quotes have updated a two-year low, dropping to $17.1-17.2 thousand. Experts attribute the fall to the news about the FTX exchange, the provision of which turned out to be in unreliable assets. In the coming weeks, the decline may continue to $15-16 thousand, analysts say, expecting demand to recover early next year.

According to Coinmarketcap, the bitcoin rate fell to $17.1 thousand on November 8, and dropped to $17.2 thousand on November 9. By the evening, the most popular cryptocurrency has somewhat won back the fall, having risen in price to $17.8 thousand. These are the minimum values ​​since November 2020, as well as the local the lowest since June, when BTC fell to $17.9k. Altcoins routinely repeat the dynamics of bitcoin with a larger amplitude. So, Ethereum lost more than 20% in a week, Solana – 35.6%, XRP – 13.7%.

The fall of bitcoin below $18,000 is due to the crisis around the large crypto exchange FTX, its FTT token and the related investment company Alameda, Roman Nekrasov, co-founder of the ENCRY Foundation, notes. “At first, information appeared in the media about the structure of Alameda’s reserves, which, as it turned out, consisted of more than a third of its own FTT tokens, some of which were also pledged,” he explains. “This immediately raised questions about the financial stability of the company, the exchange and the liquidity of such reserves.

The withdrawal of the Binance cryptocurrency exchange from investments in FTX and the intention to get rid of the platform token provoked a fall of the token by more than 90% on November 8 and dragged the quotes of all cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin, agrees Sergey Mendeleev, head of InDeFi Smart Bank. “Now that the insolvency of not only the exchange, but also the entire Alameda group has become apparent, all its assets have come under check, the main of which are SOL tokens,” he points out.

Against the backdrop of reports of a crisis in FTX and Alameda, investors in fear for the safety of assets hurried out of cryptocurrencies – into stablecoins or fiat money, and the process went like an avalanche, a sale began, says Roman Nekrasov.

The situation reminded many investors of the recent collapse of Celsius, and they rushed to secure assets, adds Vladislav Utushkin, founder of TTM Group. “As a result, Solana, associated with FTX and Alameda Research, lost more than a third of its value in a day,” the expert explained. On the situation around FTX – and it has just begun to develop – bitcoin can fall to $15 thousand, and up to $10 thousand, depending on what kind of skeletons are hiding in Alameda’s closet and how the collapse of FTT and the sale of FTX will affect Alameda’s investments in many projects, says Mr. Nekrasov.

There is no need to talk about the imminent recovery of bitcoin yet, experts believe.

“We are still seeing a global downtrend, and it is too early to talk about a reversal,” says Mr. Utushkin. “FTX is already being compared with the fall of Lehman Brothers in 2008 in terms of the scale and degree of influence on the crypto market,” says Sergey Mendeleev. In the coming weeks, the cost of bitcoin may continue to decline to the region of $15-16 thousand, Igor Pan, a specialist in digital assets of the Finmir marketplace, believes. But already at the beginning of next year, in his opinion, demand may recover and the rate will rise to the region of $28-32 thousand.

Ksenia Kulikova