Bitcoin lingers near US$17,000; Coinbase, miners lead declines

BITCOIN is finishing the week mired in the narrow range that has existed since the collapse of the FTX exchange, while Coinbase Global and miners continued their declines toward record lows as the crypto winer grows colder. 

The largest cryptocurrency by market value was little changed at about US$17,113 as of 5 pm in New York, just off the two-year low reached on Nov 21. FTX sought bankruptcy protection on Nov 11. Bitcoin is down more than 60 per cent this year. The Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index dropped less than 2 per cent this week, and is down 67 per cent in 2022.   

Coinbase chief executive officer Brian Armstrong said earlier this week that the cryptocurrency exchange’s revenue is set to be cut by half or more this year as declining prices and the collapse of rival FTX rattle investors’ confidence. 

Marathon Digital Holdings’ shares tumbled 28 per cent, the biggest weekly decline since August. Riot Blockchain fell 16 per cent.  BLOOMBERG