Bitcoin is teetering on the precipice of an abyss, according to some crypto market analysts, with its price hitting its lowest level since July 2021.
The cryptocurrency has lost more than 50 per cent of its value over the last six months amid a market-wide downturn that has wiped more than $1.5 trillion from the overall crypto market.
Since first rising above this price at the start of 2021, BTC has never fallen below it for any significant amount of time, meaning it will be in unchartered territory if the sell-off continues.
There is widespread fear in the market on Thursday, after the Terra (LUNA) cryptocurrency fell by more than 99 per cent, dropping below $1 on Wednesday having peaked close to $120 last month.
The crash has pushed another stablecoin, Tether, below its dollar peg hitting as a low of 95 cents.
Key points
- Bitcoin price crash caused by ‘wider adversity'
- Bitcoin market enters ‘extreme fear'
- Crypto market metrics ‘incredibly bullish’ despite price crash
- Terra Luna cryptocurrency collapses 98% overnight
The price of the Terra (LUNA) cryptocurrency has fallen by more than 99 per cent, wiping out the fortunes of crypto investors.
Terra, which ranked among the top 10 most valuable cryptocurrencies, dropped below $1 on Wednesday, having peaked close to $120 last month.
The majority of the losses were realised overnight, with a 98 per cent price fall in the space of just 24 hours.
Life savings’ evaporate as major cryptocurrency collapses 98%
Cryptocurrency has always seemed to me like one of those financial manias that sometimes grip the world – like Wall Street in the 1920s, or the dot com boom that collapsed in 2000”.
“If cryptocurrencies collapse and fail, this is because the collective of people who use them and create them have failed to find a way of making them stable and reliable, ie useful, besides being a vehicle for speculation. Then again, usefulness probably isn’t the point of cryptocurrencies. Their point is that they have no point. I hope that helps”.
So-called stablecoins have led the cryptocurrency market to melt down in a moment of significant instability.
The cryptocurrencies are intended to be a particularly reliable way of investing in digital money, and are marketed as being a way around the significant volatility in other, better known names such as bitcoin.
How ‘stablecoins’ helped cause the new crypto meltdown
Terraform labs halts activity on Terra blockchain
Terraform Labs says it has halted activity on its Terra blockchain after its TerraUSD and Luna tokens collapsed, according to Bloomberg.
“The Terra blockchain was officially halted at a block height of 7603700,” Terraform Labs tweeted on Thursday.
“Terra validators have decided to halt the Terra chain to prevent governance attacks following severe $LUNA inflation and a significantly reduced cost of attack.”
Luna fell in value to almost zero cents, while TerraUSD, which is also known as UST, fell to around 36 cents.