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Bitcoin bruised after chaotic debut as legal tender in El Salvador

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Reuters

<p>TOKYO - Bitcoin licked its wounds on Wednesday, a day after its heaviest losses in 2-1/2 months as El Salvador&#x27;s historic adoption of the crypto asset as legal tender caused chaos online and on the street.</p><p>The coin last traded at $46,560, having endured wild trade the day before in which it hit a near four-month high of $52,956 before plunging 11.1 percent, its largest fall since June 2.</p><p>Analysts said the sharp retreat was partly due to investors who had bought the rumour of El Salvador&#x27;s move now selling the fact.</p><p>&quot;I think there was some anticipation building ahead of that event (El Salvador), similar to what we saw ahead of Coinbase listing on Nasdaq,&quot; said Henrik Andersson, chief investment officer at Apollo Capital, a crypto asset fund in Melbourne, Australia.</p><p>At one point on Tuesday, the digital currency fell as much as 18.6 percent, wiping out more than $180 billion from the market.</p><p>It was a historical day for bitcoin as El Salvador&#x27;s experiment of making it legal tender got off to a bumpy start.</p><p>Technological glitches hampered its use while street protests by mistrustful citizens broke out in the Central American country.</p><p>As bitcoin wobbled, Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele said his government purchased an additional 150 bitcoins on Tuesday, worth around $7 million.</p><p>&quot;That has underscored the difficulty in trying to protect the value of bitcoin as its own currency,&quot; said Nana Otsuki, chief economist at Monex Securities. &quot;The buying didn&#x27;t seem to be effective in halting its fall.&quot;</p><p>Amid the trading frenzy, major U.S. cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase Global Inc, Kraken and Gemini struggled with delays in some transactions. All of them said their systems have since been restored.</p><p>Separately, the U.S. securities regulator has threatened to sue Coinbase Global if the crypto exchange proceeds with plans to launch a programme allowing users to earn interest by lending crypto assets. <br/>(Reporting by Hideyuki Sano, Anushka Trivedi; Editing by Sam Holmes)</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/03/30/21/visa-moves-to-allow-payment-settlements-using-cryptocurrency">Visa moves to allow payment settlements using cryptocurrency</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/business/09/07/21/in-world-first-bitcoin-becomes-legal-tender-in-el-salvador">In world first, bitcoin becomes legal tender in El Salvador</a></li></ul><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe allow="autoplay; fullscreen" frameBorder="0" height="100%" id="ivsplayer01" scrolling="no" src="https://player.ivideosmart.com/ivsplayer/v4/dist/html/iframe-src.html?iframeid=ivsplayer01&amp;key=e8c22c015ca9eafa76f1e3edfa03c603&amp;spid=3001339&amp;vid=1668879" width="100%"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>

Bitcoin licked its wounds on Wednesday, a day after its heaviest losses in 2-1/2 months.