Market Wrap: Bitcoin Tumbles Most in 1 Year as Crypto Cracks Appear

Bitcoin slumped to about $23,000 when the Celsius withdrawal halt combined with a sell-off in traditional markets to sour trader spirits.

AccessTimeIconJun 13, 2022 at 8:50 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 6:45 p.m. UTC
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Bitcoin (BTC) suffered its largest price drop in a year as signs emerged that the steep correction in crypto markets is hurting big industry players and putting extreme stress on digital-asset projects.

As of press time, bitcoin was changing hands around $23,200, down 16% over the past 24 hours. Ether (ETH), the native token of the Ethereum blockchain, slumped 18% to $1,222.

The latest leg down came as the big crypto lender Celsius, which as recently as April claimed to hold at least 150,000 bitcoin, worth about $3.5 billion at current prices, halted withdrawals. (Nexo, another crypto firm, expressed interest in buying some of the platform's assets.)

It was a day of fast-moving developments and announcements that all seemed to confirm how bleak crypto markets are suddenly looking.

The overall market capitalization of cryptocurrencies fell below $1 trillion for the first time since early 2021, with big losses in tokens including SOL and DOGE. Crypto-related stocks, led by MicroStrategy (MSTR), plunged.

Binance temporarily paused bitcoin withdrawals (reportedly due to technical issues). Crypto.com and the crypto lender BlockFi announced job cuts. Tron's USDD stablecoin wobbled off its $1 peg.

"Sentiment for cryptos is terrible," Edward Moya, senior market analyst at the foreign-exchange broker Oanda, wrote Monday in an emailed briefing. "Bitcoin is attempting to form a base, but if price action falls below the $20,000 level it could get even uglier."

The pain in crypto mounted as traditional markets also came under severe pressure. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index tumbled 4% to a new low for the year. The biggest driver appeared to be renewed investor fears the U.S. Federal Reserve will have little choice but to tighten monetary policy aggressively to tamp down inflation, which is running at its hottest in four decades.

The next two-day Fed monetary policy meeting starts Tuesday, culminating Wednesday with a statement and press conference hosted by Chair Jerome Powell.

Latest prices

Bitcoin (BTC): $23503, −14.39%

Ether (ETH): $1264, −14.84%

S&P 500 daily close: $3750, −3.88%

Gold: $1821 per troy ounce, −2.70%

Ten-year Treasury yield daily close: 3.37%


Bitcoin, ether and gold prices are taken at approximately 4pm New York time. Bitcoin is the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX); Ether is the CoinDesk Ether Price Index (ETX); Gold is the COMEX spot price. Information about CoinDesk Indices can be found at coindesk.com/indices.

The violent sell-off contrasted with the price action for most of May, where bitcoin mostly stabilized around the $30,000 level.

But bitcoin is now in the throes of a seven-day losing streak.

Crypto fund investors not buying the dip

By Jimmy He

Chart of investors' net flows into crypto funds shows a burst of redemptions last week. (CoinShares)
Chart of investors' net flows into crypto funds shows a burst of redemptions last week. (CoinShares)

Investors pulled $102 million out of digital asset funds during the week through June 10, according to a CoinShares report. Some $57 million of the outflows were attributed to bitcoin-focused funds.

Ether-focused funds saw $41 million in outflows, bringing month-to-date outflows to $72 million and year-to-date outflows to $386.5 million. Blockchain-related equities saw outflows of $5 million.

Regionally, the majority of outflows were attributed to the Americas, which totaled $98 million. In comparison, funds listed in Europe only experienced $2 million in outflows.

Relevant insight


Other markets

Most digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day lower.

Biggest Gainers

There are no gainers in CoinDesk 20 today.

Biggest Losers

Asset Ticker Returns DACS Sector
Ethereum ETH −14.8% Smart Contract Platform
Bitcoin BTC −14.4% Currency
Dogecoin DOGE −14.3% Currency

Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.


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CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.

Bradley Keoun

Bradley Keoun is the managing editor of CoinDesk's Tech & Protocols team. He owns less than $1,000 each of several cryptocurrencies.


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