Bitcoin has experienced its most challenging month since the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX empire, as the excitement surrounding US spot Bitcoin ETFs continues to wane.
The cryptocurrency’s value plummeted by nearly 16% in April, only slightly better than the decline witnessed in November 2022 , according to data accumulated by Bloomberg .
The surge in demand fueled by the anticipation of ETFs propelled bitcoin to an all-time high of almost $74,000 in March.
However, as optimism for Federal Reserve interest-rate cuts waned and risky investments lost their allure, inflows to these products significantly decreased.
A sharp drop of approximately 5% on Tuesday pushed bitcoin to around $60,000 and had a ripple effect on the rest of the crypto market.
Smaller cryptocurrencies such as Ether , Solana , and meme coins experienced more substantial losses, while shares of crypto companies also closed lower.
Throughout April, a net outflow of $182 million was observed from the 11 US spot ETFs, a stark contrast to the net inflow of $4.6 billion recorded in March.
The approval of these funds by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in January had created a new avenue for engagement, surpassing everyone’s expectations.
The highly anticipated Bitcoin halving , a four-year event that reduces the supply of new coins and historically acts as a price catalyst, had minimal impact this time around when it occurred on April 19.
While the halving did not directly affect transaction processing, it did cut the amount of new Bitcoin awarded to miners in half.
The stocks of crypto mining companies suffered more significant declines than bitcoin itself.
Companies like Marathon Digital Holdings Inc., Riot
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