Crypto investors are seeing red this morning as the entire cryptocurrency market appears to be heading off a cliff. At the time of this writing, major cryptocurrencies are down as much as 16% or more in the past 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk.
Both Dogecoin and Ether are currently down 16%, Solana is down over 15%, and Shiba Inu is down over 11%. Other coins, including Tron and ApeCoin, are currently down over 17%. And of course, the crypto king, Bitcoin, is down over 12.5%. This is particularly notable because Bitcoin has now fallen to below the $24,000 mark for the first time since December 2020.
But just what is causing this crypto crash? These are the three main reasons, according to CNBC:
- Runaway inflation: Inflation is at a 40-year high, sending prices for some everyday goods skyrocketing. When inflation rises, consumers tend to pull back on spending because their money doesn’t go as far as it used to. This reduced consumer spending spooks the markets, which usually causes investors to flee riskier investments. You can’t get much riskier than cryptocurrencies.
- A hammered Nasdaq: Last week the Nasdaq got hammered—mainly due to those inflationary fears and expected interest rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. As CNBC notes, when U.S. indices like the Nasdaq take a beating, crypto markets usually follow suit.
- Celsius: This is the wildcard on this list. A crypto lending company by the name of Celsius announced this morning that it was pausing the ability of its users to withdraw or transfer their coins due to “extreme market conditions.” When a platform does something like this, investors get worried that others may follow suit, causing a run on the markets, and they rush to sell their coins before the floor drops out. As is completely understandable, Celsius users on Twitter are furious.
I have USDC in my account that I want to use to repay my loan that has a margin call right now, but I can't even repay the damn loan because of the transfer freeze. That's ridiculous. If the market tanks, celsius will liquidate my collateral even though I can pay off my loan!!!
— FlyingSpoon 🔮 (@flyingspoon8891) June 13, 2022
Some people on social media are referring to today as “Black Monday.” So where does crypto go from here? No one knows for sure, but Vijay Ayyar, vice president of corporate development at cryptocurrency exchange Luno, told CNBC that the bottom may not have hit yet. Ayyar noted that Bitcoin is currently down 63% from its November 2021 high. But in previous bear markets, it has fallen as much as 80% from its previous highs. “We could see much lower Bitcoin prices over the next month or two,” he said.
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