Beautiful Virgin Islands

Wednesday, May 13, 2026

Bitcoin rallies slightly but still set for record losing streak after Terra 'stablecoin' collapse

Bitcoin rallies slightly but still set for record losing streak after Terra 'stablecoin' collapse

The biggest cryptocurrency edges back after hitting a 16-month low, but lags far behind recent levels and, unless there is a rebound in weekend trade, is headed for a seventh consecutive weekly loss.

Bitcoin has recovered slightly, but is still set for a record losing streak after the collapse of a so-called stablecoin.

Crypto-assets have taken a pounding after a digital token called Terra - supposed to be pegged to the US dollar - crashed in value.

The impact has rippled through markets with Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by total market value, hitting a 16-month low at one point.

Crypto-assets have also been swept up in broad selling of risky investments on worries about high inflation and rising interest rates.

Bitcoin managed to edge back in Friday trading to above $30,500 (£24,920).

This represented something of a recovery from a 16-month low of around $25,400 (£20,753) reached on Thursday.

But it remains far below week-ago levels of around $40,000 (£32,682) and, unless there is a rebound in weekend trade, is headed for a record seventh consecutive weekly loss.

"I don't think the worst is over," said Scottie Siu, investment director of Axion Global Asset Management, a Hong Kong based firm that runs a crypto index fund.

"I think there is more downside in the coming days.

"I think what we need to see is the open interest collapse a lot more, so the speculators are really out of it, and that's when I think the market will stabilise."

But broader financial markets have so far seen little knock-on effect from the cryptocurrency crash.


James Malcolm, head of FX strategy at UBS, said: "Crypto is still tiny and crypto integration within broader financial markets is still infinitesimally small.

"This idea that what goes on in crypto stays in crypto - that's in many ways where we still are at the moment."

Selling has roughly halved the global market value of cryptocurrencies since November, but this has turned to panic in recent trading with the squeeze on stablecoins.

Ratings agency Fitch said in a note on Thursday that there could be "significant negative repercussions" for cryptocurrencies and digital finance if investors lose confidence in stablecoins.

However, Fitch said that weak links between crypto markets and regulated financial markets will limit the potential of crypto market volatility to cause wider financial instability.

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
The Great Western Exit: Why Best Citizens Are Fleeing the Rich World [PODCAST]
The New Robber Barons of Intelligence: Are AI Bosses More Powerful Than Rockefeller?
The End of the Old Order [Podcast]
Britain’s Democracy Is Now a Costume
The AI Gold Rush Is Coming for America’s Last Open Spaces [Podcast]
The Pentagon’s AI Squeeze: Eight Tech Giants Get In, Anthropic Gets Shut Out [Podcast]
The War Map: Professor Jiang’s Dark Theory of Iran, Trump, China, Russia, Israel, and the Coming Global Shock [Podcast]
Labour Is No Longer a National Party [Podcast]
AI Isn’t Stealing Your Job. It’s Dismantling It Piece by Piece.
Lawyers vs Engineers: Why China Builds While America Litigates [Podcast]
Churchill’s Glass: The Drunk, the Doctor, and the Myth Britain Refuses to Sober Up From
Apple issues an unusual warning: this is how your iPhone can be hacked without you doing anything
The Met Gala Meets the Age of Billionaire Backlash
Russian Oligarch’s Superyacht Crosses Hormuz via Iran-Controlled Route
Gunfire Disrupts White House Correspondents’ Dinner as Trump Is Evacuated
A Leak, a King, and a Fracturing Alliance
Inside the Gates Foundation Turmoil: Layoffs, Scrutiny, and the Cost of Reputational Risk
UK Biobank Breach Exposes Health Data of 500,000, Listed for Sale on Chinese Platform
KPMG Cuts Around 10% of US Audit Partners After Failed Exit Push
French Police Probe Suspected Weather-Data Tampering After Unusual Polymarket Bets on Paris Temperatures
News Roundup
Microsoft lost 2.5 millions users (French government) to Linux
Privacy Problems in Microsoft Windows OS
News roundup
Péter András Magyar and the Strategic Reset of Hungary
Hungary After the Landslide — A Strategic Reset in Europe
×