Bitcoin has fallen below $24,000 to its lowest level since the end of 2020. More than $200 billion was wiped from the entire cryptocurrency market on Monday morning. It is the latest in a series of price plunges for the cryptocurrency. The currency has lost more than 60 per cent of its value in the past seven months.
Some leading cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum (ETH), ADA, SOL and DOGE, have suffered even worse losses than Bitcoin, falling 15 to 25 percent in the past day.
While many cryptocurrency holders are liquidating their assets, cryptocurrency lender Celsius has told clients they are temporarily unable to withdraw funds from the platform. "Due to extreme market conditions, we are announcing today that Celsius is suspending all withdrawals, swaps and transfers between accounts," the company said today.
NFT volumes surged on the last day of the cryptocurrency market's rout. Top NFT projects, including Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC), Mutant Ape Yacht Club (MAYC) and Crypto Punks, have grown 100% in the last 24 hours, according to CryptoSlam.
Yuga Labs' BAYC NFT project is now the leader in 24-hour sales after a 262% spike in transactions and more than $7 million in bored Ape sales on the secondary market.
However, the data suggest that a handful of wealthy investors may be behind the moves.
Last week, more than $100 million was taken out of U.S. cryptocurrency funds. Us cryptocurrency funds sold about $102m worth of digital assets last week amid "expectations of a hawkish Federal Reserve monetary policy", according to CoinShares.
According to CoinShares' latest weekly Digital Asset fund flows report, $98 million of outflows between June 6 and 10 came from investors in the Americas, while Europe accounted for just $2 million.
"Bitcoin outflows totalled $57m last week, bringing total outflows for the month to date to $91m," the report noted. Ethereum outflows totalled $41m, bringing the year-to-date total to $387m, the report added.
"When they told me that the financial risk of Bitcoin for El Salvador was really high, all I could do was smile. El Salvador's finance Minister, Alejandro Zelaya, said on Monday that the financial risk to the South American country from the current cryptocurrency market collapse is "extremely low." The country has bought 2,301 bitcoins, which were valued at about $51 million at the time of release, representing about 50 percent of the $105.6 million it has invested in the cryptocurrency.
Mr. Zelaya cited an earlier estimate by Deutsche Welles that the country's bitcoin portfolio had lost about $40 million in value.
"Forty million dollars is less than half a percent of our total national budget," he said.
Coinbase shares fell more than 11% on Monday in the latest cryptocurrency market rout. This appears to be related to bitcoin trading at its lowest level since December 2020, with the cryptocurrency's total market value falling below the $1 trillion mark. The company has announced a hiring freeze and rescinded job offers it had accepted.
Bitcoin could be on the verge of collapse and "cryptocurrency winter" could be just around the corner, according to one expert.
Binance, a cryptocurrency exchange, blocked bitcoin withdrawals amid a sharp market downturn. The company said the blocked transactions meant it had a backlog in its systems and was unable to meet people's requests. Zhao Changpeng, CEO of Binance, tweeted that people's money was safe.
Some see the price crash as a sign that investors are less enthusiastic about the risks of cryptocurrencies than they used to be. Cryptocurrencies are one of the most volatile assets around.
"The number of cryptocurrency clearances has been high since Friday as investors seem to have panicked. Bitcoin and Ethereum each plunged 7% and are now trading at their lowest prices of $25,000 and $1,300, respectively. The bearish trend is likely to continue in the coming days." Bitcoin prices have fallen for nearly 12 straight weeks, one of the biggest declines in the asset's history.
Last month, the collapse of Terraform Labs' Luna and UST tokens cost investors more than $40 billion in assets.