Bitcoin Declines on Split Called Off

• Bitcoin Declines on Split Called Off

The world’s most dominant cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, plunged from a record high on Wednesday following the cancellation of a technology upgrade.

Bitcoin rally to an all-time record high of $7,882 on Wednesday but dropped shortly after the news of the split became public, losing over $1,000 of its value to $6,570 price level.

According to the founder of Litecoin, Charlie Lee, the coin investors who were expecting to take advantage of the usual extra coins that stem from split may have started taking profits, while other who bought into the recent rally ahead of the split may have switched to alternative cryptocurrencies.

Litecoin is the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization.

The team behind the change to the underlying software, Segwit2x, cancelled the split on Wednesday, saying they are trying to avoid issues in the developer community.

The coin had jumped from about $6,000 since CME Group Inc. announced in October it would start offering Bitcoin futures by the end of the year, just a month after refuting such move.

On Tuesday, Goldman Sachs technical analyst, Sheba Jafari had predicted a temporary pullback below the $8,000 price level using Eliot Wave analysis.

“The market has shown evidence of an impulsive rally since breaking above 6,044. Next in focus $7,941. Might consolidate there before continuing higher,” Sheba Said.

A host of skeptics, including billionaire Warren Buffet has warned that the high flying unregulated digital currency could be a bubble waiting to burst after gaining over 700 percent this year alone.

Two months ago, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called the cryptocurrency a fraud, but instead of his comments scaring investors, it has helped the coin popularity blast through $5,000 to almost $8,000 in the last 8 weeks.