In just over 60 minutes, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) dropped more than 5% from $23,500 to $22,240 due to a wave of unease around the crypto-friendly bank Silvergate Capital.
According to Cointelegraph Markets Pro, the price decline has erased $22 billion from Bitcoin’s overall market capitalisation, which is now $430.9 billion.
Several non-Bitcoin cryptocurrency, including Eth (ETH), XRP (XRP), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC), and others, have also experienced a precipitous decrease.
According to Markus Thielen, the head of research at digital asset exchange Matrixport, the price decline is likely due to the recent controversy surrounding Silvergate Bank’s delayed 10-K financial report filing as well as an increased effort by US regulators to limit relationships between banks and cryptocurrency firms:
The decline is a result of Silvergate Bank’s ongoing fallout, which has increased confusion around the fiat on-and-off ramp. Also, there are now broader industry worries that US regulators are attempting to sever additional banking connections between cryptocurrency firms and FDIC-insured banks.
But, China and Hong Kong, which are becoming more crypto-friendly, are benefiting from this.
We have observed a surge in stablecoin activity as evidence that cryptocurrency companies are utilising crypto rails to transfer funds, he continued.
On Twitter, a number of technical analysts claimed to have foreseen the decline from the $23,000 resistance.
Bitcoin last traded at $22,250 on February 15.
The sudden decline occurs despite a rise in prices until 2023, with BTC still up 34.8% since its Jan. 1 price of $16,550.
Ether’s (ETH) market cap dropped by $9 billion in the first hour as a result of its 4.74% decline from $1644 to $1566.
