Bitcoin Sinks to $26,000 Mark First Time Since June, Most Cryptocurrencies Record Losses

Price wise, Bitcoin registered a plunge of $2,065 (roughly Rs. 1.7 lakh) in one day.

Written by Radhika Parashar, Edited by Manas Mitul | Updated: 18 August 2023 12:09 IST

Bitcoin Sinks to $26,000 Mark First Time Since June, Most Cryptocurrencies Record Losses

Photo Credit: Pexels/ Rodnae Productions

The crypto market cap stands at $1.05 trillion on August 18

Highlights

US’s hint at an interest rate hike could have impacted crypto sector
Potential devaluation of Chinese Yuan also cited by experts as reason
Snags in Shibarium blockchain may have added to investors’ concerns

Bitcoin, in the last 24 hours, sunk to its lowest trading value since June this year. The value of Bitcoin stands at $26,489 (roughly Rs. 21.9 lakh) on Friday. This is after the asset registered a loss of 7.52 percent over the last day. Price wise, Bitcoin registered a plunge of $2,065 (roughly Rs. 1.7 lakh) in one day. Experts have noted that a number of macro-economic reasons have driven Bitcoin and the overall crypto market to the edge of seeing record losses for this year.

“According to market data, investors have registered $1 billion (roughly Rs. 8,308 crore) in losses in crypto liquidations in the last 24 hours. There has been a potential devaluation of the Chinese Yuan, which is trading at the weakest level since 2007. Historically, when China devalued the Yuan last time in August 2015, BTC prices witnessed a plunge,” Parth Chaturvedi, Investments Lead at CoinSwitch Ventures, told Gadgets 360. The bankruptcy of Chinese property giant Evergrande has also impacted the investor sentiment, leading to losses.

Ether, with a drop of 6.92 percent, is currently trading at $1,676 (roughly Rs. 1.39 lakh). Over the last day, the second largest cryptocurrency after Bitcoin lost $122 (roughly Rs. 10,130) pricewise.

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Majority cryptocurrencies are reeling under losses on Friday. These include Binance Coin, USD Coin, Ripple, Cardano, Solana, Dogecoin, Tron, Polkadot, and Polygon.

Other loss-making altcoins include Shiba Inu, Litecoin, Avalanche, and LEO.

The valuation of the crypto market, at present, stands very close to its trillion-dollar mark, which is psychologically significant for the investor community. In the last 24 hours, the crypto market cap dropped by 7.29 percent to stand at $1.05 trillion (roughly Rs. 87,24,334 crore), as per CoinMarketCap.

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“The mass sell-off in the crypto market has led to a plunge in the crypto fear and greed index, which is down 13 points and has entered the fear zone after over five months, with a score of 37/100,” Chaturvedi noted.

Along with troubles coming from China, other factors are also impacting the crypto market.

Market participants, for example, are closely monitoring their movements in response to the recent release of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes.

“Bearish sentiment increased following the latest FOMC minutes, where the Federal Reserve hinted at further rate hikes,” the CoinDCX team told Gadgets 360.

In addition, the problematic launch of Shiba Inu's Shiberium layer-2 blockchain this week, where $1.7 million (roughly Rs. 14 crore) worth of ETH got stuck on the Shibarium bridge, also contributed to the fear quotient shooting up among investors.

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Cryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges

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Further reading: Cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, Ether, Qutm, Wrapped Bitcoin, Zcash, Tether, USD Coin, Ripple, Binance USD, Binance Coin, Cardano, Polygon, Solana, Polkadot, Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Litecoin, Uniswap, Tron, Monero, Dash, Bitcoin Cash, Flex, Cartesi, Braintrust, Kishu Inu, Circuits of Value

Radhika Parashar

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Radhika Parashar is a senior correspondent for Gadgets 360. She has been reporting on tech and telecom for the last three years now and will be focussing on writing about all things crypto. Besides this, she is a major sitcom nerd and often replies in Chandler Bing and Michael Scott references. For tips or queries you could reach out to her at RadhikaP@ndtv.com. More