Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana witnessed significant declines on Friday as traders speculated on the impact of the upcoming Bitcoin halving event.
The cryptocurrency market opened Friday with a sea of red. Several coins, including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, saw drops in morning trading. This could signal volatility ahead of the Bitcoin halving as traders attempt to assess whether they've accurately priced in the event. Historically, the market tends to follow Bitcoin's lead.
Bitcoin (BTC), the leading cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dropped over 4% in the last 24 hours, currently trading at around $63,400, according to CoinGecko.
After reaching multiple all-time high price milestones in recent weeks, Bitcoin's impending halving is contributing to increased volatility. Investors are eagerly anticipating whether the price will drop after the event or surge to yet another new all-time high.
On Thursday, global investment firm AllianceBernstein predicted that Bitcoin will reach $90,000 by the end of 2024. This bullish sentiment is further fueled by the rising activity surrounding Bitcoin ETFs approved earlier this year.
"ETFs now represent $4 to $5 billion in average daily BTC spot market volume," said Coinbase Asia-Pacific Managing Director John O’Loghlen in a late Thursday statement to Decrypt. "So [ETFs] are 15 to 20% of the total across the centralized exchanges globally."
Meanwhile, Ethereum is down nearly 6% over the last 24 hours, currently priced at about $3,320. While investors await the potential approval of spot Ethereum ETFs by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), investment firms such as BlackRock and Grayscale have filed applications with the regulatory agency.
However, enthusiasm surrounding an Ethereum ETF is dampened by concerns that the SEC may classify ETH as a security. Additionally, the Ethereum Foundation recently disclosed that it is under investigation by an unnamed "state authority." Fortune reports that the SEC is indeed investigating the foundation.
"On any one of these crypto tokens, it's about the facts and circumstances as to whether the investing public is anticipating a profit based on the efforts of others," SEC chair Gary Gensler told Bloomberg TV earlier this month. "We do have filings in front of us. I'm not going to comment."
Solana, which has recently garnered attention due to increased meme coin trading activity, is experiencing an even steeper decline today—falling by 8% over the last 24 hours to approximately $171, just days after surpassing the $200 mark for the first time in over two years.
The network has been grappling with congestion issues in recent weeks due to demand for meme coins, but it may find some relief as the frenzy subsides, at least temporarily. Notable Solana meme coin prices are down, with BONK decreasing by 9% on the day, Dogwifhat (WIF) dropping by about 6%, and Slerf (SLERF) plunging by nearly 25%.
