Bitcoin, Ether Hit multi-month Lows as Recession Worries Take Hold

A souvenir bitcoin token is seen pictured with a 100 ruble bill in Moscow on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
A souvenir bitcoin token is seen pictured with a 100 ruble bill in Moscow on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
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Bitcoin, Ether Hit multi-month Lows as Recession Worries Take Hold

A souvenir bitcoin token is seen pictured with a 100 ruble bill in Moscow on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)
A souvenir bitcoin token is seen pictured with a 100 ruble bill in Moscow on July 30, 2024. (Photo by Alexander NEMENOV / AFP)

Bitcoin and ether plunged on Monday to multi-month lows as worries over a possible US recession in the wake of soft data gripped financial markets and triggered a rush to safe-haven assets.
Crypto markets have gotten a boost this year after the US Securities and Exchange Commission approved an exchange-traded fund to track the spot price of bitcoin and ether.
More recently, however, bitcoin has fallen alongside other assets including global equities in a broad selloff as investors fear a US recession could be on the horizon, with rising geopolitical worries also weighing. It has lost over a third of its value since hitting a record high in March.
"It's a big reminder that bitcoin and crypto in general are risk assets and sit at the pointy end of the risk spectrum," said Tony Sycamore, market analyst at IG.
Bitcoin fell 13% from its close on Sunday to $51,560, heading for its largest one-day fall since November 2022 and its lowest since February. Ether slid 17% to its lowest since mid-January at $2,277.
Sycamore said bitcoin was testing trend channel support at the $54,000/$53,000 area and needed to hold there to "prevent further capitulation towards $48,000."
Shares in crypto-related US stocks listed in Frankfurt fell heavily in early trading on Monday, with Coinbase down over 18%, while those in miners Riot Platforms and Marathon Digital were down 17.7% and 20%, respectively.



Rumors on Selling Egypt’s Airports Spread on Social Media

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during his recent visit to Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria (Ministry of Aviation)
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during his recent visit to Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria (Ministry of Aviation)
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Rumors on Selling Egypt’s Airports Spread on Social Media

Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during his recent visit to Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria (Ministry of Aviation)
Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly during his recent visit to Borg El Arab Airport in Alexandria (Ministry of Aviation)

Rumors spread on social media in Egypt amid claims that the country’s airports are being sold to foreign parties, prompting the cabinet to deny the reports on Saturday.
In an official statement on its Facebook page, Egypt’s government stressed that the goal is to “offer the management and operation of airports to the private sector.”
According to the Egyptian Council of Ministers, “Egyptian airports are fully owned by the state and subject to Egyptian sovereignty.”
It added that the state is implementing an integrated strategy based on raising the efficiency of airports and increasing their capacity, through a number of infrastructure development projects, as well as upgrading security systems and modernizing all security devices at Egyptian airports.
Additionally, the state is expanding flight networks by opening new markets and supporting low-cost aviation activities, the cabinet underlined in a statement.
Member of Parliament’s Tourism and Aviation Committee, MP Mohamed Taha Al-Khouly, told Asharq Al-Awsat that the government submitted a plan to Parliament last month to allow the private sector to provide some services inside airports.
This matter “will not happen randomly,” but within “an organized framework, and may require legal amendments regarding the controls regulating the private sector companies that will be present to provide some services at Egyptian airports,” he added.
According to the deputy, these services include receiving tourists, organizing the movement of taxis in the vicinity of airports, in addition to providing assistance services upon arrival, and other matters that do not directly or remotely affect Egyptian sovereignty over the airports.
Last month, the Central Bank of Egypt announced an increase in tourism sector revenues by 5.3 percent during the first 9 months of the 2023-2024 fiscal year, reaching $10.9 billion, compared to $10.3 billion in the same period of the previous year.
In 2023, Egypt received about 14.9 million tourists, an increase of 27 percent over 2022, according to a statement by the Egyptian Council of Ministers at the beginning of this year.