Bitcoin’s price fluctuations were unphased by major events in May. (Photo by Chesnot/Getty Images)
Bitcoin, like many other assets, charted its own path in May, moving out of tandem with major news events.
The digital currency experienced some notable volatility early in the month, climbing nearly 15% from $8,767.67 on May 1st to its intra-month high of $10,062.72 on May 7th, CoinDesk data shows.
However, the cryptocurrency quickly lost all those gains, plunging to less than $8,200 by May 9th, additional CoinDesk figures reveal.
In the remaining weeks, bitcoin recovered, repeatedly moving toward $10,000 but failing to breach that level.
[Ed note: Investing in cryptocoins or tokens is highly speculative and the market is largely unregulated. Anyone considering it should be prepared to lose their entire investment.]
These price fluctuations took place during a month where bitcoin experienced several notable events.
Paul Tudor Jones
Paul Tudor Jones, a billionaire hedge fund manager, told clients earlier this month that he was purchasing bitcoin as an inflation hedge, according to Bloomberg.
Jones was one of the 400 richest people on the planet at the time of this writing, according to a recent estimate made by Forbes, which placed his net worth north of $5 billion.
Emphasizing that governments have spent trillions of dollars on asset purchases and fiscal stimulus in recent months, he chose bitcoin over other assets like commodities and Treasuries, Bloomberg reported.
The Halving
Bitcoin experienced a halving on May 11th, during which the mining reward was reduced from 12.5 bitcoin to 6.25 bitcoin.
As a result of this development, the rate at which new supply of bitcoin enters the system was cut in half.
While bitcoin didn’t enjoy sharp gains right after the halving, such upside is probably on its way, said Tim Enneking, managing director of Digital Capital Management.
“The halving has never had much of an effect right on the halving date,” he stated.
“The big move from that is almost certainly still coming.”
Major Bitcoin Transfer
A little over a week later, on May 20, Twitter handle Whale Alert tweeted that 40 units of bitcoin had been “transferred from possible #Satoshi owned wallet (dormant since 2009) to unknown wallet,” an event that generated significant visibility.
Goldman Sachs Client Call
Another development that grabbed the attention of crypto enthusiasts was the revelation that Goldman Sachs’ Investment Strategy Group was planning to criticize bitcoin on a May 27 client call.
A slide deck for this event was released ahead of the call, and Michael Dudas, founder of The Block, tweeted about it on May 22.
“Cryptocurrencies Including Bitcoin Are Not an Asset Class,” the investment bank wrote at the top of one slide, emphasizing that digital currencies do not generate earnings or cash flow.
“We believe that a security whose appreciation is primarily…
