U.Today – The largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell below $61,000 in Saturday’s trading session as risk aversion spread across financial markets and Genesis began distributing digital assets to creditors after completing its bankruptcy restructuring.
Bitcoin extended its selloff and fell to an intraday low of $60,240 after the U.S. July jobs report released on Friday fueled concerns that the world's largest economy could be in danger of recession. Stocks also sank as the unemployment rate jumped to its highest level since October 2021.
Another wave of selling in Japan came in response to minimal monetary tightening measures taken by the Bank of Japan on Wednesday, when it raised its benchmark interest rate to 0.25% from a previous range of 0%-0.1%.
At the time of writing, BTC was down 3.56% over the past 24 hours to $62,142.
Peter Schiff reacts to Bitcoin price drop
In his usual style, economist and gold bug Peter Schiff, who is also an outspoken critic of cryptocurrencies, took the opportunity to criticize cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum in particular.
In a tweet, Schiff highlighted Bitcoin's weekly decline in value against the Japanese yen, suggesting that Japanese investors may soon abandon the cryptocurrency.
Schiff wrote: “Bitcoin is down 13% in Japanese yen terms this week. That's a significant drop for something Japanese investors bought as a safe haven. Gold is also down, but only 2.5% in yen terms. Not bad considering Japanese stocks fell 7.3% for the week. The Japanese will soon be saying sayonara to bitcoin.”
In another tweet, Schiff criticizes Ethereum ETFs and predicts a drop to $2,000: “Ethereum ETFs have only been trading for two weeks and are already down 15%. They closed the week at new lows. Ethereum itself is now trading below $3,000. It won't be long before it breaks $2,000. Gold is up 2% this week. Bitcoin is down 10%. The race is over. Gold wins the medal.”
Peter Schiff has long been a critic of cryptocurrencies, often citing gold as a more reliable store of value. His recent comments reflect his ongoing skepticism toward cryptocurrencies; therefore, Schiff’s prediction that Japanese investors will abandon bitcoin should be interpreted in light of his general approach to investing.
This article was originally published on U.Today
