Just days after hitting a new record high of over $34,000, bitcoin rapidly swooped below $30,000 briefly on Monday (Jan. 4).
CNBC reported that bitcoin fell to $29,315 early Monday morning, a 12 percent drop from Sunday. As of 7:12 pm ET, the cryptocurrency had risen back up to $32,264.80.
“The most likely explanation for a pullback is short-term profit taking by traders, rather than long term investors,” Jason Deane, Quantum Economics analyst, told CNBC. “Given the current sentiment and appetite for bitcoin, it seems likely that any correction will be short lived.”
Investors and crypto fans remain positive about a continued cryptocurrency price rally.
“I think we’re going towards $75,000 to $100,000 for bitcoin by the end of 2021,” Binance.US CEO Catherine Coley recently said on KTLA News.
The “deflationary aspect” of the digital coin — owed to its finite supply — is a big draw for customers in today’s economy, Coley noted, “as a means to avoid the inflationary aspects of our own U.S. dollars.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation is partnering with the Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) to develop a virtual asset strategy and market infrastructure in the country.
The partnership goals include developing a virtual assets market and supporting virtual asset projects in Ukraine, developing a central bank digital currency, and implementing and regulating stablecoin trading.
“We believe digital assets and national digital currencies are one of the most important innovations of our lifetimes, and we are excited to play a role in the creation of Ukraine’s digital asset infrastructure,” said Denelle Dixon, CEO and Executive Director of Stellar Development Foundation, in the release.
In other news, ICONLOOP, a blockchain technology firm in South Korea, is testing a mobile driver’s license based in blockchain that aims to prevent forgery and better protect personal data.
The company announced in a press release that it had received regulatory approval from South Korea’s Ministry of Science and ICT to test the Decentralized Identity (DID) technology.
With ICONLOOP’s DID technology, users are able to manage and store their authenticated data on the ZZeung mobile app, as opposed to today’s system, where all license information is stored on a single server, which is more vulnerable to attacks and data leaks.
ICONLOOP plans to launch its mobile driver’s licenses in the second half of 2021.
“ICONLOOP emphasizes the self-sovereignty of personal data. The authentication processes that previously existed offline in the form of physical cards are now online via mobile apps like Zzeung, making it possible for users to manage their own authenticated information,” said Jonghyup Kim, CEO of ICONLOOP, in the press release.
