Bitcoin fell below $24,000 on Monday, its lowest level since December 2020 as investors ditched the cryptocurrency amid a larger sell-off in risk assets, international media reported earlier during the day.
Bitcoin, Ethereum, and the other leading cryptocurrencies all collapsed over the weekend, erasing mild gains made during the previous week. The global crypto market cap is down to $970 billion, a 12 percent drop in just 24 hours.
Meanwhile, a crypto loan firm named Celsius has halted withdrawals for its customers, raising concerns of further crisis in the broader market.
Over the weekend and into Monday morning, the cryptocurrency market had lost more than $200 billion. According to CoinMarketCap statistics, the cryptocurrency market capitalization went below $1 trillion on Monday for the first time since February 2021.
According to CoinDesk data, the world’s largest cryptocurrency Bitcoin briefly fell below the $24,000 mark during the early hours of trade today before quickly rising back above that level.
BNB is down by 22 percent in the past week, Cardano (ADA) is down 24 percent, XRP by 18 percent, Solana (SOL) by 31 percent, Dogecoin (DOGE) by 28 percent, Polkadot (DOT) by 28 percent, Avalanche (AVAX) 35 percent and Polygon (MATIC) 25 percent.
After a massive bull run in 2020 and 2021, the crypto market has been volatile all year, but the current Crypto Winter began in earnest in the first week of May when major currencies plummeted alongside stock markets across the globe.
For years, Bitcoin was touted as a hedge against inflation, but it has not performed as expected in 2022, reaching its most disturbing level of correlation with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq since 2020.