Bitcoin and Ethereum plummetted further as the crypto bear market worsened and volatility concerns continued to mount.
Both were whiskers away from key lows in Wednesday’s early afternoon trading. Bitcoin dropped 8.0% to US$20,624 while Ethereum, the next largest crypto, sunk 10% to US$1,067.
The most popular coin has been trading at 18-month lows for the past week or so, as it threatened to fall below US$20,000 for the first time since mid-December.
Meanwhile, Ethereum flirted with the US$1,000 mark – something that hasn’t been seen since the very last few days of 2020.
Bitcoin has nosedived 70% since its all-time high in November, Ethereum in the same period dropped 78%. In the past seven days, the major cryptos plunged 33% and 41% respectively, whilst the vast majority of the digital asset market has followed suit.
It comes as riskier assets have in recent weeks been offloaded by investors, though in specific cases other more asset-specific factors have been at play.
Crypto horror stories from around the market
Crypto tycoons bearish: Some of the largest names in crypto investing believe a crypto market bottom is fast approaching and the timing to capitalise on lows and buy may soon be upon us. Billionaire Mike Novogratz, founder, chairman and chief executive of digital asset merchant bank Galaxy Digital (TSX-V:GLXY) Holdings said he expects ETH to hold at US$1,000 and BTC around US$20,000, while Macro investor Raoul Pal took recent market downturns as a chance to stockpile more crypto.
SEC investigates insider trading: The American Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an enquiry into how crypto trading platforms are preventing insider trading.
Coinbase cutbacks: Crypto exchange Coinbase will reduce its number of workers by 18% amid a looming recession and ongoing bear market.
Celsius needs lawyers: Digital assets lending platform Celsius hired restructuring lawyers to help find potential answers to its financial turmoil. On Tuesday, its price skyrocketed over 600% following an exchange error, which explained the short squeeze.
MicroStrategy HODL: MicroStrategy Incorporated stock is indicated around 7% lower ahead of Wednesday’s open despite the software-company-come-Bitcoin-proxy's attempt to reassure investors over fears it faces a ‘margin call’ for a March US$205mln loan used to buy Bitcoin at much higher prices (read more).
Brazil still open to crypto: Proposed addition to current law in Brazil would give its citizens the right to use cryptos as a form of currency.
Binance brave-facing: Binance chief executive Changpeng Zhao claimed that a crypto winter may actually be good for business. Meanwhile, the exchange platform temporarily suspended withdrawals, for a matter of hours, as another crypto crash continued.
Chain.com crashes: On Tuesday evening, tokens of cloud blockchain infrastructure provider Chain.com nosedived 96% before later recovering most of the losses.
