The bitcoin price had held steady above $21,000 for the last two days, bringing it back above the price it was when Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, FTX, began its decline toward bankruptcy. The bitcoin price has remained steady above $21,000 since Monday, well above its Nov. 2 price of $20,283. Bitcoin’s price has risen more than 22% in the last seven days, according to data published by CoinMarketCap. The bitcoin price fell by that same amount in less than a day, between Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, as investors tried to assess the impact of a potential FTX collapse and the prospects of a Binance-backed FTX rescue. It dipped below $16,000 several times in the following weeks.
CoinDesk first reported on irregularities at FTX’s sister hedge fund, Alameda Research, on November 2. Billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies began to flow out of FTX in a few days. A potential rescue deal with ChangPeng Zhao’s Binance fell apart on November 8, and FTX and Alameda declared bankruptcy on November 11. Over that period, bitcoin, long the most prominent and well-capitalized cryptocurrency, became a vessel for investor concern. The surge in price coincides with deep uncertainty in the broader industry. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two crypto companies, Genesis Trading and Gemini, with offering and selling unregistered securities. There have been multiple rounds of layoffs at crypto exchanges, including Coinbase and Crypto.com. In recent months, bitcoin has experienced a substantial rally that has outpaced the gains made by other cryptocurrencies, according to data from CoinMarketCap. During the past seven days, ether prices have increased by more than 18%. Binance’s exchange token, BNB, and ripple prices have risen by 10% and over 11%, respectively. But ether competitor Solana has seen its price rise by over 44% in the last seven days, propelled partly by the minting of a dog-based non-fungible token, Bonk Inu, on Solana’s blockchain.
