TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Bitcoin price was dropping on a daily basis in the third week of December. Bhima Yudhistira Adinegara, an economist at the Institute for Development of Economics and Finance (Indef), said that the price drop was caused by Bitcoin sales for Christmas and New Year holidays.
“Similar with gold stores that are crowded ahead of Lebaran (Eid),” he told Tempo in a phone interview on Sunday, Dec. 24. The behavior also took place in other places across the globe, causing its price to drop.
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Bima sees it as a short-term phenomenon due to profit taking. In the last two years, he noted that Bitcoin price hikes on average trump its decrease.
Other factor that weakens Bitcoin is investors’ preference to buy cheaper cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum and Lite Coin. With over 1100 cryptocurrencies, investment choices are getting more and more varied as initial coin offerings continue to grow.
Data from Bitcoin.com show data the virtual money price stood at US$18,991 per coin on December 18.
The following day, it decreased to US$17,532.70 per coin and dropped further to US$16,496 on December 20. It took another tumble on December 21 to US$15,785.
On Friday, Bitcoin dropped to US$15,699 and Saturday saw it weakened to US$14,049.
VINDRY FLORENTIN
