Bitcoin dropped 7.5% to $43,872, Ethereum declined 8.6% to $3,062, Cardano slipped nearly 10% and Dogecoin 10%
The price of Bitcoin and other crypto prices slid on Monday, as ongoing concerns over a possible default at Chinese conglomerate Evergrande Group roiled global markets.
The drop for those digital assets, as well as markets broadly, came as China’s real estate giant Evergrande contends with mounting debt. And they follow broader scrutiny of crypto currencies in China and the U.S.
Meanwhile, the crypto currency exchange Coinbase said it had decided not to launch a crypto lending program after the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) threatened to sue.
The price of Bitcoin dropped 7.5% to $43,872 in 24 hours. Ethereum declined 8.6% to $3,062. Cardano slipped nearly 10% and Dogecoin 10%.
Among Bitcoin stocks, Coinbase dropped 3.5% in the stock market today. Marathon Digital was 5.4% lower. The Grayscale Bitcoin Trust dipped 8.3%.
Concerns about the Chinese property market and fears that the Fed might hold back some of the monetary stimulus are the primary drivers for this uncertainty, said Dan Raju, CEO of the online broker Tradier.
Fawad Razaqzada, analyst at ThinkMarkets, said the fallout from Evergrande could ripple through China’s economy.
Chief among investor worries has been Evergrande’s debt woes and its potential spillover on other property developers, lenders and other sectors — not only in China, but elsewhere too, he said. Investors are not sure whether Chinese authorities will be able to contain the fallout from a possible disorderly collapse of the heavily indebted company.
Evergrande’s debt has been estimated to be at more than $300 billion. The developer also has wealth-management and electric-vehicle segments, and other businesses.
The company had interest on loans due on Monday, but China’s government has warned banks they wouldn’t get it, according to reports. Evergrande also has millions in interest on company bonds due this week.
Rob Brewis, fund manager at Aubrey Capital Management, said it would take “a decade or more” to unravel Evergrande’s debt. That debt, he said, had been accumulating for years.
The price of Bitcoin and other crypto prices have taken hits this year, as China cracks down on crypto-related activity and tries to exert more control over other industries. U.S. regulators have also started paying more attention to the space.
Coinbase added an update to a blog post saying that as of Friday, it had decided not to launch a lending program that would allow its users to earn interest on the stablecoin USD Coin.
Coinbase also discontinued the waitlist for the program. It said hundreds of thousands of customers nationwide signed up. The exchange said it was continuing to seek regulatory clarity for the crypto industry.
