[Bitcoin Now] Precarious 50 Million Won Level... Decreasing Trading Volume

'Black Swan Author' Nassim Taleb: "Bitcoin is a Pandemic"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Gong Byung-sun] The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin is slightly exceeding the 50 million KRW mark. It appears that investor sentiment is weakening, as trading volume in the cryptocurrency market is declining.

According to the domestic cryptocurrency exchange Upbit, as of 3:27 PM on the 19th, Bitcoin was recorded at 50.32 million KRW, down 1.67% from the previous day. This marks the fourth consecutive trading day of decline since the 16th.

Bitcoin has been sluggish this month. Although it rebounded to 58.3 million KRW on the 2nd, it has fallen by 13.68% over about two weeks. On the 10th, it dropped to 48.89 million KRW, the lowest price since August 6 of last year.

Trading volume has also significantly decreased. According to the cryptocurrency market data site CoinMarketCap, as of the 19th, the trading volume of the four major domestic cryptocurrency exchanges (Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit) was approximately 3.59419 trillion KRW (about 4.2843 trillion KRW). In November of last year alone, Upbit recorded trading volumes of about 18.7542 trillion KRW.

As of this date, the total Bitcoin trading volume is also sluggish at 22.4 billion USD. When Bitcoin reached its all-time high in November last year, the total Bitcoin trading volume was 42.4 billion USD.

In this situation, Nassim Taleb, author of "The Black Swan," compared Bitcoin to a disease. On the 17th (local time), Taleb tweeted, "Bitcoin will continue to spread like an epidemic until all foolish people buy it," adding, "The weakness of Bitcoin is that the belief of foolish people makes buying Bitcoin an 'obvious investment'." Last year, Taleb criticized Bitcoin as the most vulnerable asset in financial history and is known as one of the leading cryptocurrency pessimists.