Despite a 23.26% increase in the total crypto market volume to $$128.12B, the global crypto market cap has decreased by 7.66% in the last 24 hours to stand at $2.06T.
The majority of cryptocurrencies including Bitcoin, Ethereum, and a majority of altcoins like Binance Coin (BNB), Solana (SOL), Terra (LUNA), Cardano (ADA), and the like started the day on a drastic decline.
Today’s crypto market plunge is highly attributed to the news that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) will raise interest rates in the coming months.
The Fed news affected both crypto and stock markets
The cryptocurrency market was not the only culprit of today’s news that the Fed is considering raising the rates in the coming months. The stock market also took a share and the majority of the stocks sold off on Wednesday afternoon into Thursday morning.
The Nasdaq Composite for example slid by about 3.3% as technology stocks continued their tumble. The S&P 500 plunged by nearly 2% while the Dow shed about 1% immediately after the news.
The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) December meeting said:
"Participants generally noted that, given their individual outlooks for the economy, the labor market, and inflation, it may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated… Some participants also noted that it could be appropriate to begin to reduce the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet relatively soon after beginning to raise the federal funds rate."
Bitcoin falls to $43K as altcoins crash
Bitcoin, which is the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has fallen by 7.31% to trade at $43,042.99.
Although almost all the cryptocurrencies have seen a decline of close to 10% or above, the Majority of the eyes are on Bitcoin, which has experienced quite a roller coaster in the past few months. The coin had gone to the end of 2021 with hopes that it would at least get above $50K but only to take a turn for the worst.
Ethereum on the other hand has fallen by 9.77% to $3,445.86 amid fears that it could slide below $3K if the current bear market continues.
Only a handful of cryptocurrencies started the day being green. Some of the popular cryptocurrencies that have registered the biggest drops include Axie Infinity (AXS) that has dropped by 17.38%, Curve DAO Token (CRV) that has dropped by 16.78%, Loopring (LRC) that has dropped by 16.76%, Elrond (EGLD) that has dropped by 16.34%, and Tezos (XTZ) that has dropped by 16.19%.
