Bitcoin Plunges in April, Worst Month Since FTX Collapse as ETF Hype Deflates

Bitcoin experienced its worst month since the collapse of FTX in November, with a 16% decline in April due to fading enthusiasm for US exchange-traded funds and waning hopes for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts. The crypto universe followed suit, with Ether and Solana experiencing deeper losses, while crypto company stocks tumbled. Despite the much-anticipated Bitcoin halving, its impact was minimal, as the number of transactions and miner rewards remained unaffected.

Bitcoin Tumbles in April, Worst Month Since FTX Collapse as ETF Euphoria Wanes

Bitcoin has experienced its most significant monthly decline since the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX empire, as the initial enthusiasm surrounding US exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for the largest digital asset subsides.

Bitcoin plunged almost 16% in April, narrowly surpassing the decline witnessed in November 2022. The US-ETF induced rally propelled Bitcoin to a record high of nearly $74,000 in March. However, as expectations for Federal Reserve interest rate cuts dwindle, demand for risky investments has waned, resulting in a substantial decrease in inflows into these products.

On Tuesday, Bitcoin's decline of nearly 5% to around $60,000 had a ripple effect on the broader cryptocurrency market. Smaller rivals such as Ether and Solana, as well as memecoins, experienced even more significant losses. Shares of companies associated with the cryptocurrency industry also closed lower.

Data from April 29 indicates net outflows of $182 million from the 11 US spot ETFs. In contrast, these funds witnessed a massive $4.6 billion in net inflows in March. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved these funds in January.

"ETFs provided a new avenue for participation that became immensely popular, far exceeding anyone's expectations," explained Seth Ginns, managing partner and head of liquid investments at Coinfund, in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. "This led to a rapid appreciation of Bitcoin's value, surpassing initial projections."

The highly anticipated Bitcoin halving, an event that occurs every four years and reduces the supply of new coins entering the market, historically serving as a catalyst for price growth, had minimal impact following its implementation on April 19. While the halving did not affect the number of transactions that can be processed per block, it did reduce the number of new Bitcoins awarded to miners by half.

Shares of cryptocurrency mining companies experienced a steeper decline than the price of Bitcoin itself. Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. dropped by 11%, Riot Platforms Inc. fell by 8.8%, Cleanspark Inc. declined by 9.6%, and Cipher Mining Inc. dipped by 7.9%.

Additionally, MicroStrategy Inc. plummeted by 18%. The software company, which has made purchasing Bitcoin a core part of its corporate strategy, reported a $53 million loss in the first quarter on Monday. Despite the cryptocurrency's surge during the period, the firm took an impairment charge against the value of its Bitcoin holdings.

Market observers had anticipated a potential tailwind from Asia and had their sights set on the Bitcoin and Ether spot ETF listings in Hong Kong. However, the Tuesday debut failed to ignite investor confidence. Data compiled by Bloomberg shows that the six new ETFs recorded a combined trading volume of $11 million in their initial session, which pales in comparison to the $4.6 billion total volume achieved by the 10 US spot-Bitcoin products on their debut.

"The market had built up irrational expectations ahead of the launch of the Hong Kong ETFs," said Vetle Lunde, an analyst at K33 Research.

Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, declined by 18% in April, its largest monthly decline since June 2022.

In March, the SEC requested information from various companies as part of its review of Ether. Last week, crypto software company Consensys filed a lawsuit challenging the SEC's authority to regulate the Ethereum blockchain and Ether, marking the latest legal battle between the crypto industry and the agency.

Other smaller and more volatile tokens, such as Dogecoin and Polkadot, experienced even steeper declines on Tuesday. Such altcoins tend to outperform Bitcoin during market rallies and suffer more significant losses during downturns.