A Bitcoin logo inside a BitBase cryptocurrency exchange in Barcelona, Spain, on Monday, May 16, 2022.
Angel Garcia | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Bitcoin has 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 slide toward bankruptcy.
Since Monday, bitcoin has largely held steady above $21,000, well above its Nov. 2 price of $20,283.
The price of bitcoin has jumped more than 22% in the last seven days, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin fell by that same amount in less than a day, between Nov. 7 and Nov. 8, as investors struggled to assess the impact of a potential FTX collapse and the likelihood of a Binance-backed FTX bailout. 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 Nov. 2. Billions of dollars worth of cryptocurrencies began to flow out of FTX in a matter of days. A potential rescue deal with ChangPeng Zhao’s Binance fell apart Nov. 8, and FTX and Alameda both declared bankruptcy Nov. 11.
Over that period, bitcoin, long the most prominent and well-capitalized cryptocurrency, became a vessel for investor concern.
Bitcoin price has recovered the losses it incurred in the wake of FTX’s collapse
The surging price comes at a time of deep uncertainty for the broader industry. On Thursday, the Securities and Exchange Commission charged two crypto companies, Genesis Trading and Gemini, with offering and selling unregistered securities.
Multiple rounds of layoffs have struck crypto exchanges, including Coinbase and Crypto.com.
Bitcoin has enjoyed a rally that outpaces the gains made by other cryptocurrencies, according to data from CoinMarketCap. In the last seven days, ether has gained over 18%. The prices of Binance’s exchange token, BNB, and ripple have risen 10% and over 11%, respectively.
But ether competitor solana has seen its price rise by over 44% in the last seven days, propelled in part by the minting of a dog-based non-fungible token, Bonk Inu, on Solana’s blockchain.