Bitcoin has dropped below $20,000 for the first time in 18 months, and the decline shows no signs of slowing down.
At 9:06 a.m., the largest cryptocurrency was down 7.1 percent to $18,993, after briefly touching $18,732, its lowest price since December 2020.
It has lost about 28% of its value since Friday, or more than half of its worth this year, and is down 70% from a high of $69,000 in November.
In 2022, Bitcoin has lost around 59 percent of its value, while Ethereum-backed ether has lost 73 percent.
It comes after Babel Finance, a Hong Kong-based crypto-lender, froze withdrawals yesterday due to a widespread market downturn, citing ‘unusual liquidity’ in a statement.
The digital currency market has taken a beating this week as bitcoin lending provider Celsius suspended withdrawals and account transfers, citing “extreme” circumstances.
Investors are fleeing riskier assets, prompting companies like Coinbase Global Inc, Gemini, and Blockfi to lay off thousands of staff.
The worldwide crypto market’s worth has dropped to approximately $900 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, after peaking at about $3 trillion in November.
Analysts claim that a price of $21,000 puts 45 percent of investors underwater on their assets, meaning that an item is worth less than it was purchased for.
Retail investors, on the other hand, are doubling down and seeing the selloff as a great opportunity to buy.
According to Vanda Research, retail investor net inflows into crypto-related equities and exchange-traded funds have jumped to $570 million in the last ten days, the highest level since January of last year.
‘We are in the midst of a crypro winter,’ Future Perfect Ventures partner Jalak Jobanputra told Yahoo Finance Live.
‘Things could change if there is more contagion in the crypto markets and more funds collapse, but I still think of [bitcoin] as the most blue-chip crypto that isn’t as vulnerable to questionable risk management approaches.’