Yahoo Finance Bitcoin price falls ahead of halving as ETF inflows slow
Bitcoin has fallen to its lowest level in over a month as inflows from spot bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) begin to waver.
The world's largest digital asset by market capitalisation (BTC-USD) decreased by over 3% in the past 24 hours, falling below $62,000 (£49,709). The downturn saw the digital asset hit a monthly low of $60,181 on Wednesday evening UK time, a price not seen since the middle of March.
Read more: Crypto live prices
The downturn comes after a slowing of inflows into spot bitcoin ETFs from fund managers such as Franklin Templeton (BEN), and ahead of Saturday's bitcoin halving event.
Spot bitcoin ETF trading volumes have declined from their early March peak. Since the beginning of this week, many ETF issuers have even recorded zero flows.
Read more: What is a spot bitcoin ETF and why it has sparked a crypto rally?
Tuesday saw another day of spot ETF net outflows, totaling $58m. This was accelerated by $79.4m and $12.9m outflows from the Grayscale Bitcoin Trust (GBTC) and ARK 21Shares Bitcoin ETF (ARKB), respectively.
However, IBIT, BlackRock's (BLK) iShares Bitcoin Trust ETF, has continued to post daily positive flows, with $25.8 million in inflows recorded on Tuesday.
Wider crypto downturn
Bitcoin is not the only digital asset that has declined in the past day. Of the crypto majors, Solana (SOL-USD) has posted the most substantial price correction, falling by over 8% in the past 24 hours to $129, according to Coingecko data.
The global cryptocurrency market cap today stands at $2.33tn, a decrease of 3.8% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin dominance is at 51.6% and ether dominance is at 15.3%. according to Coingecko data.
Read more: Bitcoin ETFs poised for US pension plan inflows, Standard Chartered analyst says
The downturn in the cryptocurrency market comes ahead of the upcoming bitcoin halving that could act as a major price catalyst for the sector.
Bitcoin halving
The consensus among analysts is that the upcoming 'bitcoin halving' could continue to drive inflows into the bitcoin market. This event is anticipated to occur on or around Saturday, 20 April.
The bitcoin halving is an event that happens about every four years. The halving will reduce the reward that miners receive for validating blocks on the blockchain from the current 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
This could act as a supply crunch for the digital asset, potentially leading to a price appreciation.
Read more: Bitcoin price volatile as reduction in supply looms
However, according to Yahoo Finance's Bradley Smith, the halving will not be good for bitcoin miners. "For companies like Marathon and Riot— the rewards that they generate will diminish. If you look out more broadly over the year-to-date performance— all of these companies are down, and down bad," Smith said.
He added that the halving will place even more pressure on bitcoin miner operating costs. "So that thrusts them very much into the conversation of whether or not they could be a target for an acquisition," he added.
Watch: What bitcoin halving means for investors
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