SINGAPORE: Bitcoin wavered on Friday and was heading toward its sharpest weekly drop since September, as worries over regulation and its frothy rally drove a pullback from recent record highs.
The world’s most popular cryptocurrency fell more than 5 percent to an almost three-week low of $28,800 early in the Asia session, before steadying near $32,000. It has lost 11 percent so far this week, the biggest drop since a 12 percent fall in September.
Traders said a report posted to Twitter by BitMEX Research suggesting that part of a bitcoin may have been spent twice was enough to trigger selling, even if concerns were later resolved.
“You wouldn’t want to rationalize too much into a market that’s as inefficient and immature as bitcoin, but certainly there’s a reversal in momentum,” said Kyle Rodda, an analyst at IG Markets in Melbourne, in the wake of the BitMEX report.
“The herd has probably looked at this and thought it sounded scary and shocking and it’s now the time to sell.”
Bitcoin was trading more than 20 percent below the record high of $42,000 hit two weeks ago, losing ground amid growing concerns that it is one of a number of price bubbles and as cryptocurrencies catch regulators’ attention.
During a US Senate hearing on Tuesday, Janet Yellen, President Joe Biden’s pick to head the US Treasury, expressed concerns that cryptocurrencies could be used to finance illegal activities.
That followed a call last week from European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde for global regulation of bitcoin.
Still, some said the pullback comes with the territory for an asset that is some 700 percent above the 2020 low of $3,850 hit in March.
“It’s a highly volatile piece,” said Michael McCarthy, strategist at brokerage CMC Markets in Sydney. “It made extraordinary gains and it’s doing what bitcoin does and swinging around.”
Second-biggest cryptocurrency ethereum initially slipped to a one-week low on Friday before rising 6 percent late in the Asia session to $1,177.
Bitcoin heads for worst weekly loss in months
https://arab.news/w3r4g
Bitcoin heads for worst weekly loss in months
- The world’s most popular cryptocurrency fell more than 5 percent to an almost three-week low of $28,800 early in the Asia session
Saudi minister at Davos urges collaboration on minerals
- The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals
LONDON: Countries need to collaborate on mining and resources to help avoid geopolitical tensions, Saudi Arabia’s minister of industry and mineral resources told the World Economic Forum on Tuesday.
“The reason of the tension of geopolitics is actually the criticality of the minerals, the concentration in different areas of the world,” Bandar Alkhorayef told a panel discussion on the geopolitics of materials.
“The rational thing to do is to collaborate, and that’s what we are doing,” he added. “We are creating a platform of collaboration in Saudi Arabia.”
The Kingdom last week hosted the Future Minerals Forum in Riyadh. Alkhorayef said the platform was launched by the government in 2022 as a contribution to the global community. “It’s very important to have a global movement, and that’s why we launched the Future Minerals Forum,” he said. “It is the most important platform of global mining leaders.”
The Kingdom has made mining one of the key pillars of its economy, rapidly expanding the sector under the Vision 2030 reform program with an eye on diversification. Saudi Arabia has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth and the ramping up of extraction comes at a time of intense global competition for resources to drive technological development in areas like AI and renewables.
“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow to diversify,” Alkhorayef said. The Kingdom has worked to reduce the timelines required to set up mines while also protecting local communities, he added. Obtaining mining permits in Saudi Arabia has been reduced to just 30 to 90 days compared to the many years required in other countries, Alkhorayef said.
“We learned very, very early that permitting is a bottleneck in the system,” he added. “We all know, and we have to be very, very frank about this, that mining doesn’t have a good reputation globally.
“We are trying to change this and cutting down the licensing process doesn’t only solve it. You need also to show the communities the impact of the mining on their lives.”
Saudi Arabia’s new mining investment laws have placed great emphasis on the development of society and local communities, along with protecting the environment and incorporating new technologies, Alkhorayef said. “We want to build the future mines; we don’t want to build old mines.”
