[Bitcoin Now] Domestic and International Bitcoin Decline... Trading Around 57 Million KRW and 46,000 USD

[Asia Economy Reporter Minji Lee] Bitcoin, the world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is showing a slight downward trend in both domestic and international markets. This is analyzed to be due to continued selling pressure following increased volatility in global stock markets after the Omicron variant and the shift to tightening policies by major central banks.

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According to Upbit, a domestic cryptocurrency exchange, at 3:41 PM on the 20th, Bitcoin was trading at 57.64 million KRW, down 1.18% (689,000 KRW) from the previous trading day. The daily trading volume is around 360.1 billion KRW.

Bitcoin is also showing a downward trend on another exchange, Bithumb. At the same time, Bitcoin was trading at 57.52 million KRW, down 2.33% (1.31 million KRW) from the previous trading day. Other coins in the market are mostly declining as well, including Ethereum (-2.51%), Tron (-3.02%), EOS (-0.27%), Cardano (-4.02%), Chainlink (-6.75%), and Litecoin (-2.67%).

Internationally, Bitcoin and major coins are also on a downward trend. According to CoinMarketCap, a cryptocurrency market data company, at the same time Bitcoin was down 2.20% to $46,488. Ethereum also fell 3.13%, and Cardano (-4.17%), Solana (-5.71%), Polkadot (-3.91%), and Dogecoin (-3.22%) were also declining.

Following the Bank of England (BOE)'s surprise interest rate hike last week and the acceleration of tightening policies in major countries including the United States, selling pressure has increased. Regarding the recent price adjustment of coins including Bitcoin, cryptocurrency analyst Johannes stated, “Cryptocurrency data analysis firm Glassnode diagnosed that the Bitcoin price decline was mainly caused by a ‘massive’ sell-off in the Asian market.” It is analyzed that amid the spread of the Omicron variant and upcoming policy meetings of major central banks earlier this month, financial market volatility increased, leading to a large volume of Bitcoin sell orders in the Asia region.