Bitcoin plunges $3K in just two hours on 15th anniversary of Genesis day

Major cryptocurrency Bitcoin ( BTC ) has experienced sudden, massive and sharp outflows on the 15th anniversary of its 'Genesis' day , erasing most of its gains over the past 30 days.

Bitcoin tumbled below $42,000 on Jan. 3, losing at least $3,000 of value in just two hours, according to data from CoinGecko. On CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin dropped to as low as $40,700 from its intraday high of $45,600 recorded at the time of writing.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $42,608, down nearly 6% over the past 24 hours, CoinGecko data shows. The cryptocurrency is also down 1.5% over the past 14 days while seeing almost no gains over the past 30 days.

The sharp drop in the BTC price came as digital financial services platform Matrixport retracted its recent forecast that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission would potentially approve the first spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) soon.

After issuing a forecast on possible approvals, Matrixport has made a U-turn on its prediction, updating its forecast on Jan. 2 to claim that the SEC will reject all Bitcoin spot ETFs in January and that spot Bitcoin ETF approvals won’t come before Q2 of this year.

This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.