Bitcoin and other crypto prices plunge after US recovered $2.3m crypto ransom and Trump’s “scam” remark

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrenies have again suffered a dip in prices as several investors count their losses amid the sudden drop.

The price of Bitcoin slumped to its lowest in two weeks, falling by over 10% to under $33,000. Other cryptos including Ethereum, Dogecoin and Binance coin saw their valuations decline by 11.3%, 12% and 12.7% respectively.

Analysts have attributed the latest dip to the market sentiment generated after the recovery of Colonial Pipeline’s cyber attack ransom proved that crypto transactions can be tracked by the government.

The United States’ Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) recouped most of the 63.7 BTC worth $2.3 million paid by Colonial Pipeline to a group of hackers during a ransomware attack.

Crypto operations are largely built on the premise of anonymity and autonomy. However, the fact that investigators could trace the perpetrators of the Colonial cyberattack seems to have dampened investor confidence in the security of their legitimate crypto dealings.

About 149,015 traders incurred losses totalling about a billion dollars in the latest crypto market dip. The largest single liquidation order is said to have happened on Bybit-ETH valued at $7 million.

The selling frenzy which drove down crypto prices might have also been influenced by Donald Trump’s latest remarks on Bitcoin. The former US President described Bitcoin as a scam in a recent interview with Fox news.

“Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don’t like it because it is another currency competing against the dollar. Essentially, it is a currency competing against the dollar. I want the dollar to be the currency of the world, that’s what I’ve always said,” Trump stated.

Trump has never been in support of cryptocurrency, having cited its extreme price volatility and decentralised nature as major reasons for his opposing stance while in office.

Under the new Biden-led administration, authorities are mulling crypto regulations in the wake of continued ransomware attacks and money laundering.

Bitcoin is still up by 14% this year but has nosedived from a peak of almost $65,000 in mid-April. Bitcoin is currently trading at $32,933 as at the time of this writing.