Stimulus-Fueled Crypto Surge Fails To Materialize

So far, the new $1,400 stimulus checks from the President Joe Biden administration haven’t seemed to be used for bitcoin purchases as much as cryptocurrency exchanges might have hoped, CoinDesk reported.

Bitcoin is down 11 percent this week, after falling 2.8 percent last week. At around 7:50 p.m. Eastern time, the coin was going for $51,400.

The checks are still being sent out, so it might be too early to say that bitcoin won’t reap much of the benefit, according to CoinDesk. Mizuho, a Japanese brokerage, estimated via a survey earlier in March that as much as $40 billion of recent stimulus funds could be spent on bitcoin and stocks.

Voyager CEO Steve Ehrlich told CoinDesk while it could be “too early to comment on the amount of money coming to our platform from the recent stimulus, we’d note that during the previous stimulus fundings, we saw significant deposits with like amounts to the individual stimulus checks.”

Meanwhile, U.S. crypto exchange Kraken said it hasn’t seen any remarkable uptick in $1,400 purchases, CoinDesk reported.

One factor involved could be the price of bitcoin, which doubled in recent weeks and could make it look more expensive than it is, according to CoinDesk. Also, as the U.S. economy recovers, consumers are becoming more comfortable with using cash again.

Bitcoin enjoyed a streak of high valuations early in the year, with celebrities and big companies touting it and managing to push its valuation over $60,000 last month, with a total value of $1 trillion, PYMNTS reported.

Since the end of 2020, the value of the crypto has almost tripled, as Tesla put its backing behind bitcoin, and Mastercard announced new updates letting people use some cryptos to pay for purchases.

However, bitcoin’s history has always been one of volatility, with prices often dropping off sharply. And some critics said they still doubt its validity as a currency, explaining it’s more of a “speculative trading tool.”