Bitcoin crashes to $35,000 as the majority of people who bought bitcoin in 2021 lost their investment

Bitcoin falls below $39,000 on Thursday night from its all-time high price of $68,990.90. In the last 24 hours, Bitcoin fell about 8.61% in the last 24 hours and dropped as low as $38,316 as of the time of writing, according to data from CoinDesk.

Bitcoin is not alone. The carnage spreads to other altcoins including Ether, Solana, and Cardano, wiping off nearly $150 billion from the crypto market. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, suffered heavy losses dived nearly 11.38% in the last 24 hours. It was trading at $2,781 as of the time of writing, after falling as low as $2,809.51 in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk.

Why the sudden sell-off?

Many analysts blamed the sell-off on the news that Russia’s central bank had proposed a ban over the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, claiming the digital currency poses a risk to “financial stability and monetary policy sovereignty.”

Meanwhile, although Bitcoin has gone up by 24% in the last year, the majority of people who bought bitcoin in 2021 lost their investment. As American stockbroker Peter Schiff also noted in a tweet early this month, he challenged the narrative that Bitcoin had a stellar 2021. The famed Bitcoin critic claimed that although Bitcoin had a 60% leap over the last year, all the gains were achieved within the last few weeks of 2021 as you can see in the chart below.

“Bitcoin bulls point to Bitcoin’s 50% gain in 2021 as more evidence that it’s the best asset to buy. But all of those gains occurred during the first five weeks of the year. Bitcoin is lower now than it was in Feb. The vast majority of people who bought Bitcoin in 2021 are down!” Schiff tweeted.

#Bitcoin bulls point to Bitcoin's 60% gain in 2021 as more evidence that it's the best asset to buy. But all of those gains occurred during the first five weeks of the year. Bitcoin is lower now than it was in Feb. The vast majority of people who bought Bitcoin in 2021 are down!

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) December 30, 2021

Update: 6 PM Eastern Time: Bitcoin has crashed to a level not seen in months. As of the time of writing, Bitcoin is now trading at $35,738.60 just a little over half of its all-time high of $68,990.90.