Bitcoin traded once again around the $20,000 level, underperforming stocks amid lingering concerns of a greater shakeout in the crypto market. Cryptocurrencies had been moving for months in the same direction as stocks as investor appetite for risk assets ebbed on growing fears about an economic downturn.
The world’s largest and most popular cryptocurrency fell 0.9% and was trading at $20,292. Bitcoin appears to be consolidating around the $20,000 level, similar to its action around $30,000 for much of May and into June.
The global cryptocurrency market cap today was below the $1 trillion, and was down about a per cent in the last 24 hours to $942 billion, as per CoinGecko.
On the other hand, Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain and the second largest cryptocurrency, slipped over 2% at $1,077. Meanwhile, dogecoin price today was trading lower at $0.06 whereas Shiba Inu jumped over 2% to $0.000010.
Other crypto prices’ today performance were mixed as XRP, Tether, Solana, BNB and Tron prices were trading with cuts over the last 24 hours, whereas Stellar, Litecoin gained and Uniswap, Polygon rallied 10% and 19% respectively.
Crypto broker Voyager Digital Ltd said on Wednesday its subsidiary may issue a default notice to Three Arrows Capital Ltd if the cryptocurrency hedge fund fails to repay its loan. Voyager’s total exposure to Three Arrows Capital consists of 15,250 bitcoin (nearly $310 million) and $350 million USD Coin (USDC), it said.
Digital assets have been selling off all year along with other risky holdings as global central banks have shifted to hiking interest rates to quell soaring inflation.
Developments like lender Celsius freezing withdrawals and decentralized-finance applications taking unprecedented measures to protect themselves against cascading liquidations have injected further uncertainty into the crypto industry.
Embattled crypto lending platform Celsius Network Ltd. said Monday it needs more time to stabilize its liquidity and operations after freezing deposits earlier in June.
The withdrawals from the Purpose Bitcoin ETF, North America’s first Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, equaled about 24,510 Bitcoin, or around 51% of its asset under management on Friday, according to data compiled by Bloomberg and analysts, as it saw record one-day outflows of $500 million last week.
(With inputs from agencies)
