Bitcoin and Ether Head to Worst Second Quarter on Record for Global No.1 and 2 Cryptos

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The performance of Bitcoin and Ethers in the second quarter is shaping up to be history.

At least, in the relatively thin annals of the world’s largest crypto, which looked the barrel for the worst second-quarter performance in its history, going all the way back to 2010 records, according to Dow Jones Market Data.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, -5.16% was designed by one or more people called Satoshi Nakamoto around 2009 and has been one of the most volatile assets in its brief existence. Ether ETHUSD, -2.84% on the Ethereum blockchain was created in 2015 by a group including Vitalik Buterin.

But what started to be a stellar 2021 for bitcoin turned out to be anything but crypto, which is down 41.98%, in the second quarter, at last check.

Meanwhile, Ether is eyeing their weakest second quarter after a scorching start to the year. That said, Ether is still on track for its best first half since 2017, with an increase of around 185%.

For the first half of the year, bitcoin sees its weakest first half performance since 2018.

On Wednesday noon, bitcoin changed hands at $ 34,324, down more than 5% for the day, while Ether changed hands, down 5%, to $ 2,118.34. Bitcoin had enjoyed a gain of over 100% before a slump in mid-April.

Meanwhile, equity markets for the quarter posted strong returns as the economy recovers from COVID-19 lockdowns and stay-at-home protocols.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, + 0.51%, was up more than 4% in the second quarter and on track for its fifth consecutive quarterly gain. The S&P 500 SPX, + 0.05% was forecasting a quarterly increase of more than 8%, and the Nasdaq Composite COMP, -0.14% was up 9.5%, which would represent the best quarterly performance for the two clues since the fourth quarter of last year as the economy rebounded from the coronavirus pandemic.

Dogecoin DOGEUSD, -7.92% was up 380% in the second quarter, but that pales in comparison to its 980% return in the first three months of 2021. The coin itself, which originated in 2013 changed hands at 24.3 cents and headed for a first-half gain of over 5,000%, however. Assets are nowhere near their early May high of 74.07 cents.

A crackdown in China that has banned mining activity and bitcoin trading has been blamed in part on the recent fall in crypto.

Ken Jimenez and Abhirami Shrinivas contributed to this article

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