The crypto crash continues and Wall Street is distancing themselves from the downfall. Bitcoin has lost two-thirds of its value since January 2018 and now threatens new lows losing $1,000 in the past 48 hours alone. Goldman Sachs has now announced they are tabling their previously broadcasted plans to set up a cryptocurrency trading desk.
While plans had barely been rolled out, the rollback is certainly not helping crypto markets recover. The Wednesday announcement caused Bitcoin investors to continue to sell-off into Thursday morning. Goldman Sachs had yet to design a framework to determine the parameters of its digital asset trading desk, but the announcement is still damaging nonetheless.
Bitcoin wasn’t the only cryptocurrency effected, Ethereum has fallen 13 percent following the announcement, while Ripple has taken a smaller, but significant 6 percent dive. All top CoinMarketCap cryptocurrencies tend to mirror Bitcoin’s market behavior at nearly every turn with few exceptions, meaning that bad news for Bitcoin often means bad news for all coin holders.
So why does the crypto community care so much about the Goldman Sachs’ statement in the first place? Announcements like these create a distinct paranoia in the market about unfavorable regulations to come as the decentralized cryptocurrency compliance remains inextricably intertwined with centralized government institutions. Barring improbable revolution, cryptocurrency will always be deferential to the federal banking system.
Investors have been holding out hope for a long time that a bigger Wall Street presence will step up to the crypto plate. Instead, the community has been faced with continually bearish news regarding Wall Street involvement. To make matters worse, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has once again turned down recent proposals concerning exchange-trading bitcoin just last month, though many believe the bitcoin ETF is inevitable. While the SEC’s approval is likely to eventually happen, the pattern remains—bear crypto market, followed by institutional distancing, capped off with subsequent sharp price drops. The U.S. government and Wall Street continually express their squeamish attitudes through shelving and rollbacks.
