At press time, the father of cryptocurrency is trading for just over $7,500. This is a $100 spike from yesterday’s dreary $7,400, which bitcoin had previously fallen to from $7,600. It appears the currency is experiencing solid resistance at this mark, and how long it will stay there is difficult to predict.
The price drop may have been caused by recent news regarding popular cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The platform suffered a DDoS attack during the early morning hours of Tuesday June 5, and was forced to temporarily halt its trading services so executives could examine the damage and perform necessary maintenance. At press time, the operation appears to be back to normal and users’ account balances appear unaffected.
However, the price of bitcoin did drop by roughly two percent following the attack. The currency was trading for as low as $7,300 during Tuesday’s evening hours, though bitcoin has managed to recover somewhat since then.
It’s not the first time Bitfinex was the subject of malicious activity. The trading platform incurred a nasty flash crash in December 2017 when cryptocurrency was at its peak and hundreds of thousands of new customers were flocking to crypto exchanges to get in on the action. Several users demanded answers and refunds as they were left in the dark.
In addition, Bitfinex was hacked roughly two years ago and was forced to suspend its operations in August of 2016 after hackers made off with approximately 120,000 bitcoins.
Long-term sentiment towards bitcoin seems to be relatively mixed. Trefis Research, for example, which originally predicted a year-end bitcoin price of roughly $15,000, is now retracting this statement and saying that bitcoin will probably finish 2018 at around $12,000 only. Data analysts say trading, buying and selling is likely to increase in the coming months, but that growth will not be as steady as expected.
“The global cryptocurrency industry has seen a flurry of new developments since December,” representatives of the firm explained. “Many of these developments had a negative impact on the growth prospects of cryptocurrencies, like restrictions by banks on the use of credit cards to buy cryptocurrencies and calls by financial regulators across the world for caution while investing in digital currencies.”
On the other hand, trader Jeff Kilburg is much more bullish in his sentiment, and he expects bitcoin to experience a significant boost in the coming months. As the CEO of KKM Financial, the analyst and entrepreneur explained:
“All these people who want access and want allocation to cryptocurrency – it takes time to get those accounts open, so that’s happening, but right now, yes… There are cryptocurrency folks still driving around in New York in their Lamborghinis waiting for the price to go back above $8,000. I think it is coming; it has been a slow-moving ship, but there has been a quiet period, and we haven’t had a boost yet. We haven’t had somebody come out and really support it – if it’s someone saying something positive – we just haven’t seen that in a while. I think the news cycle, which really drives bitcoin, is due for a pop.”