Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Prices Fall as the Rate-hike Euphoria Fades
The overall crypto market capitulation seen on Wednesday and Thursday appears to have been short-lived, with most major tokens falling by at least 7% in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is now trading within reach of US $20K for the first time since December 2020.
Bitcoin and Ethereum, the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, both fell sharply on Friday morning.
At press time, Bitcoin fell as much as 10% to hit a low of $20,265 before recovering somewhat to trade at $20,790 at press time. Even worse, Ethereum fared even worse, falling as much as 15% to hit a low of $1,058 before rebounding to around $1,105.
The reasons for the sudden sell-off are unclear, but there are a few possible factors that could be spooking investors. One is the recent crackdown on cryptocurrency exchanges by authorities. Another is concern about whether or not cryptocurrencies will be able to weather an impending economic downturn caused by inflation.
Whatever the reason, it’s clear that Friday was a tough day for crypto fans. Here’s hoping things will turn around in the days and weeks ahead.
However, not all cryptos are faring so well. Solana (SOL) and Polkadot (DOT) are both down over 10% in the past day, trading at $31.91 and $7.35 respectively. This comes after a week of heavy losses for both coins, which were down 57% and 67% from their respective prices at the start of the year.
It remains to be seen whether this brief respite from the sell-off will last, or if we’ll see further losses in the days ahead. However, one thing is certain – the past few weeks have been tough for crypto investors, with many seeing hefty losses on their portfolios.
Dogecoin
Dogecoin has seen a surge in popularity in recent months, propelled by social media hype and endorsements from celebrities such as Tesla CEO Elon Musk. The meme-based cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of over US $0.73 on May 8, before cooling off somewhat.
Polkadot, on the other hand, has been on a tear lately, more than doubling its value since the start of April as investor interest in so-called “altcoins” gathered pace. The project aims to offer a next-generation blockchain that can facilitate cross-chain transfers of any type of data or asset.
Dogecoin’s recent market cap growth is a testament to the power of social media and community-driven projects. The Shiba Inu-themed token has benefited from a groundswell of support from online influencers and meme-makers, who have helped to raise awareness of the project and drive up demand for the token.
Despite falling 7% to $0.5625 at press time, Dogecoin has re-entered the crypto top ten by market cap, overtaking Polkadot.
Barry Pene is a stern blockchain research/copywriter. Barry has been trading cryptos since 2017 and has been invested in issues that would put the blockchain industry on the right pedestal. Barry's research expertise cuts across blockchain as a disruptive technology, DeFis, NFTs, Web3, and reduction of energy consumption levels of cryptocurrency mining.
