After a period of relative price stability, it seems that the famous volatility of the digital currency is back. The reasons are an important bitcoin sale on Bitfinex and an uncertainty surrounding Bitcoin XT.

On Tuesday night, according to CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index, bitcoin price dropped 14% in just 30 minutes, declining from $249 to a low of $214 shortly before midnight. After midnight, it recovered to $235. A smaller fluctuation happened this night, with the price going down to $223 on 9 pm UTC and returning to $233 in the morning.

The drop of the price on Tuesday night seems to be correlated to an important bitcoin sale on Bitfinex. According to Finance Magnates, over 44,000 BTC have been sold (worth approximately $9 million) causing bitcoin price on Bitfinex to plummet to $162 and influencing the price of bitcoin globally. After months of relative stability, famous bitcoin volatility seems to be back. A probable reason for that is the ongoing discussion about Bitcoin XT.

As CoinFox wrote in June, Gavin Andresen, one of the Bitcoin Core developers, started work on changing bitcoin’s block size to implement 8MB in 2016 and then to double it every two years. As many bitcoiners disagreed with the idea, the bitcoin project was forked, and a new product is being released under the name Bitcoin XT. It will be implemented if 75% of bitcoin miners adopt the changes. 

Alexey Tereshchenko