Czechs purchased cryptocurrencies worth approximately CZK 2.85 billion in the first three quarters, which is about 28% less than the previous year. In September, transactions reached CZK 250 million, a quarter more than in the same month last year and August this year. This is according to data from Bit.plus, the most prominent merchant.
Trading is still affected by high inflation, the war in Ukraine, and other negative factors that do not favor investments in riskier assets. A temporary downturn was also caused by energy prices, which resulted in a shift of cryptocurrency mining to territories with cheaper electricity.
“Trading in September was admittedly stronger than in the summer. But it was still affected by economic uncertainty among investors. The bitcoin price has stagnated at a relatively low level in recent weeks, but this has not had much effect on demand,” said Bit.plus CEO and founder Martin Stránský.
Bitcoin’s price has dropped 58 percent since the beginning of the year, to CZK 499,060, from CZK 1,556,160 at the end of March.ETH has suffered a similar decline, falling 59 percent this year to its current price of CZK 33,670.
“Trading volumes were higher than in previous periods. The correlation with the S&P 500 index, on the other hand, was lower, which could indicate that bitcoin will begin to fulfill its expected “safe haven” role against standard assets. However, I still foresee a likely breakout to significantly lower price levels in correlation with a possible collapse in the traditional asset markets,” stated independent cryptocurrency and blockchain expert Igor Pauer.
The price of Ethereum dropped sharply from around $1,800 to $1,300 after the Merge event when transactions started to be confirmed by so-called validators instead of miners. Pauer expects a further decline in the short term, even quite significant if the bitcoin price falls.