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Bitcoin investors have been evicted lately. Difficult. Bitcoin prices have fallen more than 20% in the last two days.
Ethereum, Litecoin, Ripple and other cryptocurrencies suffered similar declines. The reason for the last setback? A Business Insider reports that the giant of the investment bank Goldman Sachs (GS) may be abandoning his plans to launch an encryption desk.
Goldman Sachs told CNNMoney that he has not yet made a firm decision on Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies.
"In response to customer interest in various digital products, we are exploring the best way to serve them in space, and at this point we have not reached a conclusion on the scope of our digital offering," he said. Goldman Sachs.
But if Goldman Sachs retires, it's not good news.
Naeem Aslam, chief analyst of ThinkMarkets UK who is optimistic about Bitcoin, said in an email: "There is no doubt that the price of bitcoins is supported by this hype of institutional banks."
Stories have surfaced about a possible Goldman Sachs Bitcoin (XBT) and other crypto-currencies last December, shortly after the two major corporations CBOE (CBOE) and CME (CME) – set up exchanges for Bitcoin contracts.
Goldman Sachs confirmed in May that he was thinking of using his own money to start trading bitcoins, according to the New York Times.
Bitcoin prices, which averaged about $ 20,000 in December, have lost more than two-thirds of their value since then and currently stand at about $ 6,400.
Hussein Sayed, chief market strategist at the FXTM currency broker said in a report released Thursday that his prices could fall below $ 5,000.
It would therefore be logical for Goldman Sachs to take a more cautious approach to this extremely volatile market. Most of the news about Bitcoin has been negative lately.
Google (GOOGL), Facebook (FB) and Twitter (tWTR) have banned some crypto-currency ads.
The Securities and Exchange Commission has blocked several proposals for exchange-traded bitcoin funds over the last few months, including the plans of the ProShares and Direxion ETF giants and those of the Winklevoss brothers of the Facebook fame.
Several publicly traded companies have also attempted to capture the craze for cryptography, raising further speculation that bitcoin is a bubble. overstock (OSTK) has focused on much of its struggling online retail business to focus on cryptocurrencies.
Bioptix, manufacturer of farm animal hormones, has changed its name to become Blockchain riot (RIOT). The stock jumped – until the company revealed that the SEC was reviewing it.
The Long Island Iced Tea Beverage Company has been transformed into Long Blockchain (LBCC). It has since been removed from the list by the Nasdaq and is now trading as so-called bulletin board stock at a price below 20 cents per share.
Some companies have also started selling digital tokens through initial coin offerings to raise funds.
Eastman Kodak (KODK)– yes, the camera and film company created their own KodakCoin. There is even a PotCoin for the cannabis industry and legal marijuana.
Many of these initial coin offers are legitimate. But there were also scams. The SEC has even created a fake ICO called HoweyCoins to show how easy it is for investors to be fooled.
And several titans of the company also blew up bitcoins.
JPMorgan Chase (JPM) CEO Jamie Dimon called Bitcoin a "fraud" that was only good for drug traffickers and North Korea.
The billionaire investor Saudi Prince Alwaleed, whose Kingdom Holding Company holds stakes in Apple (AAPL), Citigroup (C) and Twitter (tWTR), told CNBC late last year, he thought Bitcoin was an "Enron in preparation" that would implode.
Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger's Berkshire Hathaway (BRKB) have also warned investors to stay away from bitcoin.
Buffett told CNBC in early May that Bitcoin was "probably a squared rat poison" while Munger said at the Berkshire shareholders meeting that the idea of owning cryptocurrencies was " only dementia ".
It should also be noted that the recent fall in bitcoin comes at a time when the Turkish lira, the Indian rupee and the Argentine peso are in free fall mode as the dollar strengthens.
Investors do not seem to be willing to bet on bitcoin to replace the fragile currencies of emerging markets.
Nevertheless, the decline of bitcoin comes as more and more companies and organizations are adopting blockchain technology, the digital ledger that records virtual currency transactions.
IBM (IBM) is a big supporter of the blockchain. The World Bank has announced its intention to launch a bond issue. There is even a company that wants to run a fantastic football league using the blockchain. (Call me old school, but I'll stay with Yahoo for my league.)
There is a clear difference between bitcoin and blockchain. The future of money can still be very digital, but that does not mean that bitcoins or other virtual currencies will survive and prosper all.
Julia Horowitz of CNNMoney contributed to this report.
CNNMoney (New York) First published September 6, 2018: 12:42 ET
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