The bad mood in the financial markets also affected numerous cryptocurrencies on Friday. The market value of all approximately 22,800 crypto assets fell below the $1 trillion mark. Bitcoin fell below the round $20,000 mark. In the morning, the price of the largest internet currency by market value fell to about $ 19,900 (18,855 euros). Heavy losses had already started the day before from around $22,000.
The second-largest asset, Ether, fell to $1,400 on Friday, down from around $1,500 the day before. The poor market sentiment was caused by turbulence in the US banking sector. The collapse of crypto bank Silvergate and the problems at Silicon Valley Bank (SVB), which specializes in venture capital for the technology industry, weighed on this.
Traditional banks are also taxed
On the stock markets, concerns also spilled over to the traditional banks, whose share prices came under considerable pressure. The background to this is the fear that the sharp rise in interest rates could lead to an increasing number of loan defaults, which would put pressure on financial institutions.
Digital currencies like Bitcoin are among the particularly risky assets that are often dragged down by poor market sentiment. The prospect of further rate hikes in the US has weighed on the market for some time. The background is that inflation is falling only slowly, which could lead the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates more sharply. Higher interest rates are generally bad for riskier asset classes because safer securities such as government bonds yield more.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
