The global crypto market cap for cryptocurrency dropped over 7% in Monday evening trade in Asia, nearing US$900 billion. Bitcoin fell to a 24-hour low of US$18,390.32 at 5 pm Hong Kong time, while Cardano led losses within the crypto top 10 by market capitalization, followed by Ethereum.
See related article: Markets: Bitcoin back below US$20,000 while Ether leads losses in crypto top 10
Fast facts
- Bitcoin recovered slightly in late Asian trading from levels last seen in June this year. At 5 p.m. Hong Kong time, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was down 8% from the same time yesterday to trade at US$18,448.84, off a 24-hour low of US$18,390.32 which were levels last seen for the coin in June.
- Ethereum (ETH) was down 11% at US$1,295.40, registering a seven-day loss of more than 26%, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Post “The Merge” on Thursday, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chair Gary Gensler said that cryptocurrencies that use proof-of-stake might be classified and regulated as securities.
- The market is waiting to see how the Merge will further affect the daily operation, and particularly the security, of the Ethereum Network, Henry Liu, chief executive officer (CEO) of BTSE, a cryptocurrency exchange, told Forkast in an email. “Uncertainty is anathema to investors… if we don’t see any major hitches in the immediate aftermath of the Merge, we can likely expect a rebound in the ETH price.”
- Top alt coins Solana, XRP, Cardano, and Polkadot were all down over 10%. The Helium NHT token was one of the major altcoin up on the day, gaining 3% after reports of Binance accidentally paying out millions of the token to some users due to an accounting error.
- US Federal Reserve officials are widely expected to raise the fed funds rate by at least 75-basis-points for the third consecutive time after a two-day meeting that commences Tuesday. Stocks in Shanghai and Hong Kong closed down 0.4% and 1% while the Nikkei 225 index closed 1.1%
See related article: As “The Merge” succeeds, rival ETHPoW fork falters