Bitcoin fell below the psychologically important threshold of $20,000 on Saturday for the first time since late 2020, in a fresh sign that the selloff in cryptocurrencies is deepening.
Ethereum, another widely followed cryptocurrency that has been sliding in recent weeks, took a similar tumble Saturday.
The overall market value of cryptocurrency assets has fallen from $3 trillion to less than $1 trillion, according to coinmarketcap.com, which tracks crypto prices. As of Saturday afternoon the company’s data showed crypto’s global market value stood at about $816 billion. One of them, Celsius Network, said this month that it was pausing all withdrawals and transfers, with no sign of when it would give its 1.7 million customers access to their funds. Another platform, Babel Finance, said in a notice posted online Friday that it would suspend redemptions and withdrawals on products due to “unusual liquidity pressures.”
Stablecoin Terra imploded last month, losing tens of billions of dollars in value in a matter of hours.