Sharp Decline In Bitcoin Price

Bitcoin retreated from its intraday high of $45,600 to $40,700.

On the 15th anniversary of its 'Genesis' day, Bitcoin experienced a sharp decline, approaching the price level from 30 days ago. According to CoinGecko data, on January 3, Bitcoin dropped below $42,000 in just two hours, losing $3,000 in value. On CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin retraced from its intraday high of $45,600 to $40,700 at the time of writing.

According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin started trading at around $42,608, marking a roughly 6% decline in the last 24 hours. The cryptocurrency also experienced a 1.5% decline in the last 14 days, with almost no gains over the last 30 days.

The sharp decline in BTC price occurred after Matrixport, a digital financial services platform, retracted its prediction that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) would approve spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) in January 2024.

On January 1st, Matrixport made a Twitter post suggesting that Bitcoin would rise to $50,000 soon, influenced by factors such as the imminent approval of a Bitcoin spot ETF. The company even mentioned that the approval of the spot Bitcoin ETF could be announced sooner than most investors expected. However, after the withdrawal of this prediction, BTC prices experienced a decline.

Matrixport made a significant U-turn just one day after publishing a prediction about possible approvals in 2024. They updated their forecast on January 2nd, claiming that the SEC would reject all Bitcoin spot ETFs in January, and the approval for spot Bitcoin ETFs would not come before the second quarter of this year.