BTC’s rollercoaster ride around $20,000 continues as USDC sinks to $0.9: ​​Weekend Watch

Bitcoin’s woes keep on coming as the asset plunged to a new two-month low of $19,500 yesterday before bouncing back by over a grand.

This comes amid Silicon Valley Bank’s troubles and the apparent exposure of certain crypto firms, including Circle and its stablecoin, which lost dollar parity.

BTC Volatile Around $20K

Over the course of nearly a week, bitcoin had settled to around $22,000 and failed to produce any significant moves in either direction. Nevertheless, the asset is known for its volatile nature and such occasions are quite rare. In fact, they are usually followed by increased fluctuations.

This is exactly what happened on Thursday when the cryptocurrency plunged by almost $2,000. While the reasons are still being debated, BTC continued to plunge, falling all the way down to $19,550 (on Bistamp) to record its lowest price point in two months.

Bitcoin reacted well to this huge price drop. It shot up above $20,000 almost immediately and went towards $21,000. However, the Bears came back to play at this point and turned the game around. As of now, the asset stands inches above the coveted $20,000 line.

The market value is still below 400 billion dollars, while the dominance over the alts has increased slightly to 42%.

USDC loses its Peg

It is rare to talk about stablecoins during a market watch, but the landscape is different today. When news broke that Circle is holding around $3.3 billion of its USDC reserves in struggling bank SVB, the second largest stablecoin began to lose dollar parity. It fell to $0.93 almost immediately and fell even further to $0.9 when these lines were written. Its market cap has dropped by over $5 billion in a day as investors use other stablecoins.

The altcoins, which are supposed to be much more volatile than stablecoins, are in slightly better shape today. ETH has reclaimed $1,400 after a 2.3% increase. BNB is close to $275. ADA, DOGE, DOT, SHIB and AVAX also have more gains.

Also, MATIC and SOL have risen between 5% and 6% in a day to above $1 and $17.5 respectively.

The total market cap for crypto has added about $10 billion since yesterday, but it’s still miles below $1 trillion.