ISLAMABAD: In just more than week’s time, cryptocurrency investors have lost more than 900 billion dollars because of a steep decline in the value of Bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptos which have fallen to below 2018 levels.
In the month of June 2022, a leading US cryptocurrency lending entity (Celsius Network), has stopped transfers and withdrawals saying the crypto-market conditions are extremely critical.
Meanwhile, Binance, the largest crypto exchange company in trading volume, too has paused withdrawal of Bitcoin, Ether and other such currencies, which has further deteriorated crypto market sentiments in recent days.
Also, Russia and China have tightened Bitcoin trading and mining which added fuel to the fire and the value of Bitcoin and Altcoins kept on sliding, hitting new lows.
Bitcoin has dropped to $21,775 on Thursday (June 16) while its market capitalisation has fallen to $415.531 billion, from over one trillion dollars in November 2021.
Also, Ethereum too has plunged to below $1200, the lowest since 2018. On Thursday morning, Ethereum was fluctuating around $1170 against its record high price of $4,600 in November last year. Market cap of Ethereum has declined to $142 billion, from $475 billion in Nov-2021.
Unending Ukranian war, west’s economic sanctions on Russia, rising inflation and hike in the discount rates globally have caused a serious blow to the cryptocurrency investors and traders.
Millions of crypto-lovers have sidelined from the market after facing losses and waiting for the return of good days. Miners too have adopted wait-and-see policy as the cost of mining has increased because of a drastic decline in the value of Bitcoin and Altcoins.
Other coins also followed suit, crashing as much as 75% in recent days. In essence, crypto investors lost a whopping $900+ billion in the blowout. The total market cap of all cryptocurrencies stands at $1.49 trillion as of now as against $2.4 trillion dollars in November last year.
Many crypto-exchanges are facing default-like situation in the prevailing scenario and they have frozen selling/buying and withdrawals. These included Binance, WazirX (owned by Binance), Voyager and Coinbase.
