Declining euro value of Bitcoin and Ethereum

Although the euro has depreciated slightly against the dollar in recent weeks, this has not affected the value of Bitcoin and Ethereum. 

In fact, the value of euro prices of the two major cryptocurrencies are still down, despite the slight devaluation of the euro. 

The euro’s performance against the dollar

The bulk of fiat currency trading in the crypto markets takes place in dollars, so it is generally preferred to take the dollar price of cryptocurrencies as a reference point. 

When exchange rates between other fiat currencies and US dollars are stable, the trend is also quite similar for euro prices, but sometimes exchange rates vary and also impact fiat currency cryptocurrency prices. 

At the beginning of May, the euro was back above $1.1, which is a level it had recovered around mid-April, and between ups and downs had managed to hold for about four weeks. 

But starting on 9 May it fell below $1.1, until it touched $1.085 on Friday. 

From then until today it has still not managed to get back above $1.09. 

This is a very small devaluation of only 2%, but significant because it happened relatively quickly for the fiat currency market. 

It is worth noting that in September of last year it had fallen as low as $0.95, so what was most significant was the rise back to $1.1, not the small rebound to the upside in recent days. 

Given the magnitude of this recent slight devaluation, and given that the trend over the medium term is actually an upward trend, it is not at all surprising that despite the euro’s decline the cryptocurrency price in euros has not gone back up. 

The euro value of Bitcoin and Ethereum

The 2023 annual high of the BTC value in euros was touched on 14 April just above €28,000. This is a decidedly remarkable peak compared to €15,400 at the beginning of the year. 

Since the second half of April, however, the price has been falling again, although the descent for now seems to have stopped well above the levels of the beginning of the year. 

On Friday the lowest peak of this descent stopped just below €23,800, which is still a level above that of mid-March. So the recent descent for now does not appear at all worrisome. 

In these early months of 2023 there have been three periods of uptrend. 

The first, and most substantial, was in January, when from €15,400 it rose all the way above €22,000 in less than thirty days. This period was then followed by a slight retracement in early February, and a new rise to €23,600. 

After a sharp decline in early March, when the banking crisis broke out in the US, there was a second period of growth, culminating in late March above €26,000. 

The third period, in mid-April, was shorter, with a much smaller increase that brought Bitcoin‘s euro price above €28,000. But it did not last long. 

In fact, it is possible to say that for two months now BTC has been lateralizing in a range between €24,000 and €28,000. 

Ethereum’s performance

A very similar argument can be made for the euro price of Ethereum, although on different levels. 

However, there is a significant difference. 

In fact, the current price level of about €1,660 is perfectly in line with that of late April. 

Basically, from 2 to 8 May, the price of ETH first rose from €1,600 to €1,820, and then returned to €1,600, undoing all the gains. It was therefore only a quick flash fire, but it seems to have allowed Ethereum to lose less than Bitcoin in recent days. 

However, it is worth noting that the price of ETH also fell on Friday, but the descent stopped just below €1,600. 

Moreover, Ethereum’s price was also below €1,700 at the beginning of April, so it seems to have benefited from the Shapella update of 12 April in this last period. 

Instead, excluding the Shapella effect, the trend is very similar to that of Bitcoin, and indeed with a much smaller gain since the beginning of the year. 

Indeed, BTC for now is at +60%, while ETH stops below +50%. 

The difference is mainly being made by Bitcoin’s performance in the second half of March, i.e., the rebound following the outbreak of the banking crisis in the US, which made the price of BTC jump up 37% while ETH was only marking +26%.