Kazakhstan Unrest Roils Crypto Market, Shows Vulnerability as Global Currency
- Date: 15-Jan-2022
- Source: Newsweek
- Sector:Financial Markets
- Country:Middle East
Kazakhstan Unrest Roils Crypto Market, Shows Vulnerability as Global Currency
Political instability in Kazakhstan was front and center last week, as major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum lost a significant portion of their value.
Sources close to the situation say the sell-off was sparked by the central government's decision to shut down the internet, taking nearly 88,000 regional mines off-line and lowering the total global hashrate, the amount of energy being used to mine Bitcoin, by nearly 11% overnight.
The event reveals the vulnerability of cryptocurrencies to non-market forces, with government action and regulation emerging as two major impediments for an industry that seeks to challenge the U.S. dollar and other fiat currencies for international currency hegemony.