Cryptocurrencies reeled from a bout of risk aversion in global markets on Monday, at one point sending Bitcoin down more than 16% and saddling second-ranked Ether with the steepest fall since the collapse of FTX in 2022.
Top token Bitcoin traded 9% lower at US$53,883 as of 4:51 pm in New York, adding to a 13.1% drop last week that was the worst since the period when the FTX exchange imploded.
Ether shed over a fifth of its value before paring some of the slide to change hands at US$2,419. Most major coins nursed losses.
Crypto-related stocks tumbled. Coinbase Global Inc., the largest US exchange, fell 7.3%, Bitcoin proxy MicroStrategy Inc. plunged almost 10%, and miners Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. and Riot Platforms Inc. each slumped for a sixth consecutive trading session.
The declines come as a global stock selloff intensified, reflecting concerns about the economic outlook and questions over whether heavy investment into artificial intelligence will live up to the hype surrounding the technology. Geopolitical tension is rising in the Middle East, adding to investor skittishness.
Total liquidations in bets on crypto were about US$1.1 billion in the past 24 hours, one of the largest since early March this year, with US$814 million and US$263 million in bullish and short positions respectively, according to Coinglass data.
US exchange-traded funds for Bitcoin suffered their largest outflows in about three months on August 2. One question is whether the products will attract dip buyers when they resume trading or witness a deeper efflux.
Overall, Bitcoin and Ether investment products saw outflows of US$400 million and US$146 million, respectively, in the week ended August 3, according to CoinShares Ltd. data.
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