Bitcoin is having a terrible first quarter, in fact the worst its ever seen.
The price of the cryptocurrency has fallen from $13,412.44 on January 1 to $7,266.07 on March 30, marking a more than 45 percent decline, according to data from CoinDesk, a site which tracks the price of different digital coins. The quarter ends on Saturday.
So far this quarter, $114.9 billion of market capitalization or value has been wiped off of bitcoin.
The price decline this quarter is the biggest first quarter decline in bitcoin’s history. The previous biggest decline was a near 38 percent fall in the price in the first quarter of 2014, according to data from CoinDesk. It tracks the price of bitcoin back to the middle of 2010.
CNBC looked at bitcoin’s price performance in the first quarters of each year beginning in 2011. Bitcoin has recorded a decline in 5 of the 8 first quarters tracked, which includes the current 2018 Q1.
The biggest price rise was a 599 percent surge in the price of bitcoin in the first quarter of 2013.
Bitcoin saw a huge run up in price in 2017 and hit a record high above $19,000 towards the end of last year.
But it has faced tougher regulatory scrutiny in 2018 and some of the air has come out of the market.
At a G-20 meeting this month, Argentina’s central bank governor outlined a summer deadline for members to have “specific recommendations on what to do” and said task forces are working to submit proposals by July. Italy’s central bank leader told reporters after the meeting in Buenos Aires, Argentina, that cryptocurrencies pose risks but should not be banned, according to Reuters
