The crypto market edged higher Monday after a week of hell during which billions of dollars were wiped off the value of bitcoin and ether.
The price of Bitcoin rebounded above the $39,000 level Monday after plummeting to less than $32,000 on Sunday.
Shares of the world’s largest cryptocurrency jumped more than 20% to $39,739.40 by 4:06 p.m. ET, according to Coin Metrics, after Tesla CEO Elon Musk and MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor tweeted about meeting with North American bitcoin miners about “sustainability initiatives.”
Ether, the world’s second most popular cryptocurrency, rose from less than $1,800 on Sunday to over $2,600 on Monday. It was trading around $2,647.53 by 4:07 p.m. ET – up 34.7%, according to Coin Metrics.
Elsewhere, dogecoin also showed signs of recovery, with its price rising from 24 cents on Sunday to 36 cents on Monday.
Broadly speaking, the crypto market was a sea of green on Monday, with just a few lesser-known coins down in the previous 24 hours.
Last week’s crypto sell-off came after authorities in China and the U.S. moved to tighten regulation and tax compliance on cryptocurrencies.
Chinese authorities called for tighter regulation on crypto mining and trading on Friday, and the U.S. Treasury announced Thursday that it would require stricter crypto compliance with the IRS.
Bitcoin on Wednesday plunged more than 30% at one point to nearly $30,000, its lowest price since late January, according to Coin Metrics. The cryptocurrency peaked in April near $65,000.
The sell-off was a major reversal for the cryptocurrency, which appeared to be gaining traction among major Wall Street banks and publicly traded companies. This month, however, bitcoin has been hit by a series of negative headlines from major influencers and regulators.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who helped fuel bullish sentiment when his company announced in February it has bought $1.5 billion of bitcoin, delivered a blow earlier this month when he announced that the automaker had suspended vehicle purchases using the cryptocurrency over environmental concerns.
Musk subsequently sent mixed messages about his position on bitcoin, implying in a tweet that Tesla may have sold its holdings, only to clarify later that it had not done so.
“The asset class continues to be highly volatile, with the potential of significant price movements resulting from a single tweet or public comment,” CIBC analyst Stephanie Price said in a note Thursday.
A JPMorgan report showed that large institutional investors were dumping bitcoin in favor of gold, raising questions about institutional support for the cryptocurrency.
