Bitcoin slid 12% in the past 24 hours to $51,995.0 by 02:13 ET (06:13 GMT). The token was at its weakest level since late-February, largely wiping out a rally sparked by the launch of spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds in March.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency slid tracking steep losses in equity markets since Friday, as a swathe of weak economic readings from the U.S. pushed up concerns over a potential recession. Wall Street indexes tumbled on Friday, while Asian markets logged steep losses on Monday with Japanese stocks entering a bear market just three weeks after marking record highs.
Bitcoin- along with broader crypto markets- was hit particularly hard by the risk-off sentiment, given its highly speculative nature.
Heightened expectations of interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve did little to stem Bitcoin’s decline, with traders largely sticking to the Japanese yen and gold as safe havens.
Bitcoin logged deeper losses against the Japanese yen.
The world’s biggest cryptocurrency was already nursing sharp declines over the past week after the U.S. government was seen mobilizing about $2 billion of tokens, heralding a potential sale.
Waning trading volumes in the crypto derivatives market- particularly in U.S. ETFs- also provided little support to the token.
Uncertainty over the outlook for U.S. regulation also weighed on crypto markets, especially as recent Bloomberg polling data saw Democratic frontrunner Kamala Harris catching up with Republican nominee Donald Trump.
Broader crypto markets were also battered by the risk-off sentiment. World no.2 token Ether slid 21.5% to $2,2390.13- its weakest level since December.
The token wiped out all gains made on recent speculation over spot Ether ETFs, whose launch last week had also provided little support to markets.
XRP, SOL and ADA slumped over 17% each, while among meme tokens, DOGE and SHIB lost around 18% each.
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