2022 has so far been a rough year for high-flying technology and the growth stocks of the pandemic. In the US, the tech-heavy Nasdaq is down nearly 30 percent, driven especially by sharp declines for giants like Apple, Meta and Amazon.
Here in Norway as well, there has been a significant price development for Pexip and Kahoot stocks, with shares soaring sharply during the pandemic.
The background to the decline lies, among other things, in high inflation, high interest rates, and geopolitical turmoil. It has caused the market to turn away from tech stocks and growth like the plague, in search of safe havens when markets are shaking.
The turmoil has now spread dangerously to the cryptocurrency market.
The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, is now trading below $30,000 for the first time since last summer, and has fallen nearly 60 percent since its peak in November 2021. The second largest cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has declined correspondingly in the same period.
This is bad news for Kjell Inge Røkke and crypto project Seetee.
He bought bitcoin for half a billion.
at In March of last year, Røkke-controlled Aker entered with half a billion kronor in bitcoinThe most famous and largest cryptocurrency in the world. Through the newly created Seetee, the company bought 1,170 bitcoins for half a billion kroner.
Then Røkke posted a file A 23-page contributor letter expressing his enthusiasm for the digital currencymade headlines outside the cryptosphere.
After the announcement of the cryptocurrency project, Bitcoin plummeted. In the following months, the price dropped to as low as $30,000 last summer. Then it was set to rally sharply, and last fall the cryptocurrency peaked at $67,000. Aker’s bitcoin wallet was worth about NOK 782 million. In January confirmed Aker says he still owns 1,170 bitcoins.
Since then, however, there has been a fairly steady downturn – a contraction that makes Aker’s bitcoin holdings today worth about $34 million. This corresponds to approximately NOK 339 million, provided the portfolio is the same today as it was earlier this year.
In July of last year, Aker wrote the bitcoin investment values into his accounts. Aker CEO Øyvind Eriksen stated that the drop was a result of the evolution of bitcoin prices, and that the group continued Such great opportunities to develop blockchain technology.
DN Aker asked about the losses and whether the number of bitcoins remains the same from earlier this year. In a text message, the Director of Communications at Aker Atle Kigen wrote:
We provide quarterly reports on Aker’s investments, and do not comment on short-term fluctuations in the market.
Stable coins are put to the test
In parallel with the explosion of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, many so-called “stablecoins” have appeared – cryptocurrencies pegged to the dollar.
These have many functions, important to the liquidity of many cryptocurrencies and as a safe haven in the highly volatile digital currency market.
A total of 80 billion tethers were issued, making it the world’s largest “stablecoin”. They must be secured one by one from real foreign exchange reserves and what the company referred to as the “dollar equivalent”.
On Thursday morning, the tether was released from the dollar, at one point dropping to 95 cents. Tether’s chief technology officer, Paolo Arduino, took to Twitter on Thursday in an effort to calm the market.
“Good morning. Reminder that Tether exchanges coins for one dollar. 300 million exchanged in the last 24 hours without the slightest effort,” he wrote.
Part of the background to the fall is that the smaller “stablecoin”, called the US Terra, has been detached from the dollar and is on the verge of collapse. This is not secured in the real world, but try to maintain the value of one dollar through algorithms.
Fall in love with crypto companies
The decline of the cryptocurrency itself also coincides with a decline in the stock market of many companies linked to cryptocurrency on the exchange.
An example of this is the crypto exchange Coinbase, which was listed on the exchange just over a year ago. In the beginning, the exchange went to a man of the houses to secure a portion of the company, And sent the market value of the company to more than 100 billion dollars in its infancy.
The opening price is $381, in stark contrast to the current price of $84.85. This corresponds to a decrease of 70 percent. Meanwhile, another crypto-related company, Microstrategy, is down 55 percent so far this year.
There is a “risk prevention” in all asset classes, including cryptocurrencies. There is nowhere to hide, famous Wedbush analyst Dan Ives told FT.(Conditions)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and/or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases using a link that leads directly to our pages. All or part of the Content may not be copied or otherwise used with written permission or as permitted by law. For additional terms look here.
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