Just when crypto investors thought they’d seen it all, the digital asset market took another nosedive. The latest bloodbath wiped out over $350 billion in market value within just three days, sending shockwaves through the crypto community. Total market capitalization plummeted 13%, from $2.67 trillion to $2.31 trillion – and that’s not even the worst of it.
The carnage was particularly brutal for Bitcoin holders, who watched the flagship cryptocurrency shed 25% of its value in four days. That’s $320 billion gone, poof, just like that. Altcoins followed suit because, let’s face it, where Bitcoin goes, everyone else follows. Many investors have turned to dollar-cost averaging as a strategy to navigate through the market downturn. Despite the market turmoil, the year has seen major scams disappear, with notable scam operations like VidiLook vanishing from the scene. The total damage? A staggering $600 billion sell-off that left investors reeling.
Bitcoin’s brutal nosedive dragged the entire crypto market down with it, vaporizing $600 billion in a devastating four-day massacre.
Liquidations were nothing short of spectacular. Over $1.4 billion worth of positions got wiped out in 24 hours, with long positions taking the biggest hit at $1.22 billion. Some poor soul on OKX got hammered with a $7 million BTC/USD swap liquidation. In total, 460,996 traders got their positions forcibly closed. Ouch.
The trigger? A perfect storm of US-led trade war tensions and recession fears. The ISM Manufacturing Index wasn’t helping either, predicting doom and gloom for Bitcoin and other risk assets. Crypto’s annoying habit of moving in sync with equity markets only made things worse. U.S. regulators have intensified their oversight, with crypto-linked sanctions tripling in the past year.
Ironically, amid all this chaos, there’s one silver lining: crypto crime is actually down. Illicit transactions dropped 65% year-over-year in 2023, and scam revenue plummeted 77%. Total illegal fund volumes fell from $49.5 billion to $34.8 billion. At least the criminals are having a bad year too.
This isn’t crypto’s first rodeo with market crashes. From the Covid-19 panic to the FTX debacle, the market’s seen its share of meltdowns. But this time, it’s the old-school economic factors – trade wars and recession fears – doing the damage.
And just like that, the crypto market remains 35% below its glory days of December 2023.
