Cryptocurrency prices extended a slump after a broad selloff sparked by worries about contagion from China Evergrande Group swept through global markets. Bitcoin, the world’s largest crypto slid as much as to $40,000 in early deals, dropping to the lowest level since the beginning of August.
As per CoinGecko, Bitcoin prices today were trading 10% lower to $42,500 whereas ether, the coin linked to ethereum blockchain, retreated below $3,000, as it was down 10% to $2,986. Cardano fell about 10% over the last 24 hours whereas dogecoin slipped 9% to $0.20. Tether and Binance USD were trading with marginal gains.
Cryptocurrency investment products and funds saw inflows for a fifth consecutive week, data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed. Crypto inflows amounted to $41.6 million for the week ended Sept. 17, with bitcoin getting the bulk of inflows at $15.3 million, and ether products garnering $6.6 million.
Bitcoin has suffered the most from negative investor sentiment with inflows in only three of the last 16 weeks, the report said. Overall, bitcoin inflows for the year amounted to $4.2 billion.
Meanwhile, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele said the country had “bought the dip,” in Bitcoin, adding 150 tokens to raise its total holdings to 700, about $32 million based on current pricing.
El Salvador used the dip on Monday and bought 150 additional bitcoins. “We just bought the dip. 150 new coins! El Salvador now holds 700 coins,” the country’s president, Nayib Bukele, tweeted.
Earlier this month, the nation had bought 150 BTC on the day it had become the first country in the world to adopt bitcoin as a legal tender in a controversial move that met with technical glitches and protests. El Salvador has been rolling out a network of 200 bitcoin ATMs and building a chain of stylish, Chivo-brand kiosks with staff who will introduce consumers to bitcoin at plazas around the country.