It's no secret that the cryptocurrency market took a hit in 2022. This week, liquidations hit record highs. According to Coinglass, more than $ 24 million was settled in just 778 hours.
This could be the snowball effect of two of the largest cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin and Ethereum, which have experienced a significant drop. Starting with the largest, Bitcoin fell more than 11% this week. While many cryptocurrencies have recorded highs in October and November 2021, many are recording new lows this month. BTC is one of the cryptocurrencies that hit its all-time high of nearly $ 2021 in November 69.000, but is now trading at just over $ 22.000, a drop of nearly 70%.
Ethereum is another cryptocurrency that has lost 15% this week. According to CoinMarketCap, its current price is $ 1.222 at the time of writing; a low the coin hasn't seen since December 2020. Like BTC, Ethereum also hit its all-time high in November 2021 at $ 4.891,70. Today's price reflects a 75% drop in value for the popular currency.
Of course, when two of the largest cryptocurrencies post such massive losses, the entire market suffers. Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), Polkadot (DOT) and Cardano (ADA) are among others that have posted double-digit losses as early as this week.
Huge layoffs from large companies
As if that weren't enough, many blockchain technology companies are being forced to lay off their employees. Coinbase, one of America's largest and most well-known cryptocurrency exchange platforms, had to lay off 18% of its full-time employees. With a team of around 5.000, it is planning to lay off around 1.100 employees.
Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong believes the company grew rapidly during the bull market, but now that the bear market has arrived, cuts need to be made to continue to function. He said: “It looks like we are entering a recession after an economic boom that has lasted more than 10 years. A recession could lead to another cryptocurrency winter and could last for an extended period… Even if it's difficult to predict the economy or the markets, we always plan for the worst so we can run the business in any environment ”.
Blocking of withdrawals
In other cryptocurrency news, Celsius Network, one of the largest cryptocurrency lenders, had to freeze all withdrawals and transfers due to extreme market conditions. "We are taking this action today to put Celsius in a better position to honor its withdrawal obligations over time," the company said.
While bear markets are a natural part of the life cycle of any large financial economy, it is certainly unnerving to witness such extreme losses for investors. Investors.
