Crypto Crash: Bitcoin tumbles below $17,665 as crypto bloodbath continues

Bitcoin bloodbath continues early Saturday morning as the world’s most popular cryptocurrency hit $18,811.40 before quickly bouncing back to $19,079.50 as of the time of writing, according to data from Coin Metrics. It was bitcoin’s lowest since December 2020.

Ether, the second-largest token, also plunged 11% to $987.35, its lowest level since January 2021. The recent rates hike by the Federal Reserves has also rippled across the entire crypto market. On Wednesday, The Fed hiked rates by 75 basis points, its biggest increase since 1994. That has led to a pullback from risky assets of all stripes, including stocks and crypto.

The carnage started last weekend after crypto lender Celsius Network, one of the largest players in the crypto lending space, announced it was freezing all withdrawals and transfers for all of its 1.7 million crypto customers due to what the crypto startup described as “extreme market conditions.”

Then on Friday, Hong Kong-based crypto lender Babel Finance announced it was temporarily suspending the withdrawals and redemption of crypto assets, as the company scrambles to pay its clients.

While many crypto investors were hoping the recent dip was just a bump on the road, Bitcoin has since shed more than $11,000 from its $30,000 peak on June 10. While some crypto investors are still “buying the dip,” many experts are now warning the situation could get worse before they get better.

In a post on Twitter, economist Peter Schiff said that bitcoin has no viable support left at this point.

“With Bitcoin’s morning low near $18.7k, the hope that the 2017 peak of $20K would act as support is gone. Objectively, looking at the chart, there really is no viable support left. Most likely #Bitcoin will find some short-term support along the long-term trend line around $6K,” Schiff tweeted.

With Bitcoin's morning low near $18.7k, the hope that the 2017 peak of $20K would act as support is gone. Objectively, looking at the chart, there really is no viable support left. Most likely #Bitcoin will find some short-term support along the long-term trend line around $6K.

— Peter Schiff (@PeterSchiff) June 18, 2022

Update: As of 12 noon EST, Bitcoin has fallen further and now trading at $18,914.10.

Update: As of 14:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, Bitcoin has fallen further and now trading at below $17,665 for the first time since December 2020. Bitcoin is now trading at $17,663.80 as of the time of writing.

Bitcoin is not all. All the other cryptocurrencies also suffer losses. In the last 24 hours alone, bitcoin has about 13%, followed by Ethereum which is now trading at $910, a drop of about 80% from its all-time high of $5,000. Tether, the stablecoin that’s supposed to peg at 1-to-1 to a dollar, also lost 0.03%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.