The market bears for Bitcoin lost out at the very last minute of the previous year- and consensus dictates China is the reason behind this loss. Hours before the year came to an end, the BTC/USD exchange nose-dived $2,000 to lows of $45,630 on Bitstamp before it managed to make a modest recovery under a line of $47,200, as data from TradingView and Cointelegraph Markets Pro show.
While this was something of an anticlimax and not something most of the traders had projected, the very lack of an upside for the cryptocurrency explains the shifts that have been taking place.
Last Moment Exit Has Hurt Bitcoin
Most of the users in China, after following years of the government tightening the noose around the trading of crypto had until the 31st of December to exit the major Chinese crypto exchanges- therefore they ended up deregistering for them. For Bobby Lee, the former CEO of BTCC exchange, this was basically the last weight that broke the camel’s back and was the last weapon in the arsenal at Beijing- one that would definitely have a major impact on the selling behavior of Bitcoin.
In a series of tweets that were published in early December, Lee stated that the reason behind the hotly anticipated year-end bull not taking off was simply the weapons that Beijing had- to prevent Bitcoin from registering any major highs by the end of the year- which would have seen it breezing through the first couple of weeks of the new year.
There have been other investors that have wholeheartedly supported this theory- whereas Blockstream did acknowledge the possible pressure coming from offloading Chinese users, who could be selling their Bitcoin at this very moment in an effort to withdraw capital- which would lead to rising balances.
