The dark streak continues for the crypto industry.
In the aftermath of a dark day, which saw Bitcoin fall to its lowest level since December 2020, cryptocurrency prices continued to decline.
All in all, the crypto market, whose valuation had reached just over $3 trillion last November, was completely in disarray. It is currently worth $991 billion, which is $2.1 trillion less than its all-time high, according to data from the firm CoinGecko. Roughly $2.1 trillion has evaporated in just 8 months.
And it's not over since the market valuation was down 8.1%, compared to the last 24 hours at the time of this writing.
Looking at all the screens, you can only see red. Bitcoin was down 11.3% at $22,428.74. The prices of the most popular cryptocurrency even went down to $21,046. Bitcoin alone represents 43.079% of the valuation of the crypto market. In other words, when it drops sharply the market suffers a colossal impact.
Ether, the second cryptocurrency by market value, fell 8% to $1,224.47.
Native tokens from promising platforms like Solana, Polkadot, and Cardano were on the rise, appearing to defy the overall bad trend.
Cryptocurrencies generally suffer from investor distrust of risky assets due to rising interest rates to fight inflation. Investors fear that the Federal Reserve's monetary policy will plunge the economy into recession.
Faced with this difficult macro-economic context, crypto firms have announced cost-cutting measures in recent weeks, ranging from hiring freezes to job cuts. The Fintech BlockFi was thus the last to announce Monday to cut its workforce by 20%. BlockFi employed around 850 people.
"This morning we announced that after taking significant time to plan and consider, we are reducing our headcount by roughly 20%," CEO Zac Prince said on Twitter. "This is not a decision we take lightly and is one that brings us great sadness."
"We are steadfast in our commitment to ensure BlockFi is here for the long haul. Our clients will not experience any material changes to the quality of service they have come to expect, their funds are safeguarded, and all platforms and products continue to operate normally.
Last week it was the crypto exchange Crypto.com, which announced it was parting with 260 people.
Beyond that, the crypto industry is also caught up in scandals, the latest of which is lender Celsius Network, which froze withdrawals and other transactions on Monday. The decision led to many speculations. Some wonder if Celsius is not at the end of bankruptcy. Apart from a memo, the firm has been silent since Monday.
Many are those who wonder if we have reached the bottom. Economist Peter Schiff, one of crypto's staunchest critics, thinks the downfall is far from over.
"With #Bitcoin dropping below key support at $25K and #Ethereum below 1300, the combined market cap of nearly 20K #cryptos has broken below $1 trillion, from a record-high of $3 trillion," Schiff said in a tweet. "That's $2 trillion down, $1 trillion left to go. The last trillion will be the most painful."
