The massive sell-off affecting cryptocurrencies removed more than $200 billion from the market in just 24 hours, according to estimates from the price tracking website CoinMarketCap.
The widespread drop in the cryptocurrency complex, fueled by the collapse of the TerraUSD stablecoin, hit major tokens hard. Bitcoin fell 10% in the last day and hit its lowest level since December 2020, while Ethereum lost 16%. Investors in the cryptocurrency sector are no strangers to wild swings in the market. Bitcoin and Ethereum quickly pared losses to trade down 4.2% and 9%, respectively, as of 4:45pm Hong Kong time.
The massacre showed signs of continuing to spread on Thursdayas crypto-related stocks in Asia too they collapsed Hong Kong-listed fintech firm BC Technology Group Ltd. closed down 6.7%. Japan’s Monex Group Inc., which owns markets TradeStation and Coincheck, also ended the day down 10%.
As central banks around the world aggressively tighten monetary policy to combat inflation, digital tokens have faced selling pressure amid a wider escape of risk assets. S&P 500 futures fell 0.8% on Thursday, tracking losses in the benchmark MSCI Asia Pacific index.