Bitcoin began a new year with a decline in its price, for the first time since 2015, Bloomberg reported citing market data.
According to CoinMarketCap, the virtual currency dropped by 3.08 percent to $13,500 on January 2. Bitfinex data shows that Bitcoin fell by 4.43 percent, to $13,220 and by 0.97 percent (to $13,350) on GDAX. According to Coindesk, Bitcoin lost 0.71 percent, having lowered to $13,320.
As the result of January 1 trading, Bitcoin dropped by 4.28 percent, in comparison to December 31.
Having analyzed the changes in Bitcoin prices in the first days of 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018, Bloomberg said the virtual coin dropped on the first day of a new year only once – on January 1, 2015, when its price lost 1.855 percent. For comparison, on January 1, 2017, Bitcoin rose by 3.58 percent.
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"Bitcoin got off to a much stronger start last year, and then kept that momentum going, helping to create a global frenzy for cryptocurrencies," Bloomberg said.
Bitcoin saw a meteoric rise in 2017, from below $1,000 at the beginning of the year and hitting the historic milestone of $20,000 earlier in December.
The cryptocurrency market has recently experienced a string of losses, culminating in a nosedive on December 22, with Bitcoin falling below $11,000, but then rebounding to over $13,000.
Zero Value?
In late December, Morgan Stanley analysts warned that the real value of Bitcoin could "be zero."
Researcher James Faucette and his team noted that if Bitcoin is not accepted as a rival to the US dollar and other fiat currencies, then it is literally worth nothing.
According to the analysts, the cryptocurrency can't be valued like a normal currency, as there is no interest rate associated with bitcoin.
It is also not comparable with gold, as it doesn't have any intrinsic use like the precious metal has, for example, in electronics or jewelry.
