Is the developer clearing out the internal strife or is it over?

FX168 News: Bitcoin prices traded at a low level in the Asian session on Monday (January 18), continuing the weak trend after the previous sharp drop.

The quotes released by BITSTAMP show that Bitcoin/US dollar (XBT/USD) fell from 390 to below 378 yesterday. Although it rebounded overnight, it was still under pressure again in the Asian session of this trading day and traded at a low level of 380.

(Bitcoin/USD time-sharing chart source: Bloomberg, FX168 Financial Network)

The quotes released by KRAKEN show that Bitcoin/Euro (XBT/EUR) fell from above 360 ​​to below 352 yesterday. It fell to 350 in the Asian session of this trading day and then traded at a low of around 352.

(Bitcoin/Euro time-sharing chart source: Bloomberg, FX168 Financial Network)

The quotes published by Huobi.com show that there are large differences in the performance of Bitcoin/RMB. It has generally been fluctuating in the range of 2527-2585, and only slowly fell back to around 2525 on this trading day.

(Bitcoin/RMB 30-minute chart source: Huobi.com)

On the industry side, well-known Bitcoin developer Mike Hearn said that this virtual currency has failed and he has sold all the Bitcoins he held.

Hearn said, "There is no reason to think that Bitcoin is better than the existing financial system. Its foundation has collapsed, and no matter how the short-term price changes, the long-term trend is downward. I will no longer participate in Bitcoin development, and I have already liquidated my position and left."

Hearn said there is a technical limitation on the Bitcoin network that limits the size of blocks to a certain size (currently 1MB), which means the entire network is overextended and cannot keep up with demand.

Hearn and Bitcoin chief scientist Gavin Andresen both support a new version of the Bitcoin code, BitcoinXT, which would increase the block size to 8MB.

However, BitcoinXT has aroused dissatisfaction among some people in the Bitcoin industry, who believe that this move goes against the original design of Bitcoin. The Bitcoin community on the American social news website Reddit has banned the discussion of BitcoinXT.

After Hearn's comments, the value of Bitcoin fell by about 7%. However, many Bitcoin supporters believe that Hearn's departure is just sour grapes, mainly because BitcoinXT has not received support. Anderson also believes that Hearn's views are "too pessimistic."

At 13:11 Beijing time on January 18, Bitcoin/USD was 379.92, Bitcoin/Euro was 351.68, and Bitcoin/RMB was 2529.63.