The largest cryptocurrency has fallen below the previous cycle's highs.

The market value of cryptocurrencies has fallen by more than $2 trillion.

Bitcoin's drop was unavoidable, according to cryptocurrency expert Edelman.


The largest cryptocurrency has fallen below the previous cycle's highs. The market value of cryptocurrencies has fallen by more than $2 trillion. Bitcoin's drop was unavoidable, according to cryptocurrency expert Edelman.

Bitcoin has dropped through several well watched price milestones to its lowest level since late 2020, as evidence of rising stress within the crypto industry mounts against a backdrop of monetary tightening.



According to Bloomberg data, the largest digital coin by market value fell as much as 15% to $17,599 on Saturday, marking a record-breaking 12th consecutive daily fall. It's still the smallest dip since Monday. The currency has recovered some of its losses and was trading at $19,075 as of 8:30 a.m. Sunday in Singapore.


Ether plunged as much as 19% to $881, the lowest since January 2021, before rising 11% to $1,005 in Singapore on Sunday morning. The two crypto market bellwethers are both down more than 70% from all-time highs reached in early November.

"What we're seeing is more liquidations driving prices and sentiment lower, which triggers more liquidations and negative sentiment — some flushing-out still required, but this will eventually exhaust itself," said Noelle Acheson, head of market insights at Genesis, one of the largest and most well-known lenders in the digital-assets space.

According to Coinglass data, total crypto market liquidations in the last 24 hours were $566.7 million, with Bitcoin and Ether accounting for about $271 million and $192 million, respectively.

The last run down dropped Bitcoin below $19,511, the high attained at the end of the coin's previous bull cycle in 2017. Bitcoin has never fallen below previous cycle high in its nearly 12-year trading history.



Altcoins were not immune to bad investor sentiment following Bitcoin's decline, with every token on Bloomberg's cryptocurrency monitor trading in the negative. Cardano, Solana, Dogecoin, and Polkadot all fell between 12 and 14 percent, while privacy tokens like Monero and Zcash fell as high as 16 percent.

A toxic combination of unfavorable news cycles and increased interest rates has harmed riskier investments such as cryptocurrency. On June 15, the Federal Reserve hiked its key interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point, the largest increase since 1994, and central bankers signaled that they will continue to hike aggressively this year to combat inflation.

"Investors are continuing to position conservatively following last year's liquidity-driven digital asset bull market," Alkesh Shah, Bank of America Corp.'s head of crypto and digital assets strategy, said in a note on Friday. "While painful, eliminating the sector's froth is likely beneficial as investors move their focus to projects with clear road maps to cash flow and profitability rather than just revenue growth."

Broader signals of stress arose with the Terra blockchain's collapse last month, and have increased this week as a result of crypto lender Celsius Network Ltd.'s recent move to freeze withdrawals.

To add to the gloom, crypto hedge firm Three Arrows Capital reported substantial losses and indicated it was considering asset sales or a bailout, while another lender, Babel Finance, followed Celsius's lead on Friday. According to analyst Glassnode, even long-term holders who have avoided selling till now are under pressure.


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