Cryptocurrency prices are taking a tumble, reversing recent gains and stunting hopes of recovery.
This selloff comes after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s July meeting released on Wednesday, revealing that officials will likely continue to raise rates until inflation cools.
Though it neared a high of $25,000 earlier this week, Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, dropped to a low of $21,315 on Friday—the most it plunged within a day in two months. It’s down 8% now in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, currently trading at $21,499.
Ether, the second-largest, is also down despite excitement surrounding the upcoming Ethereum “merge” upgrade. It’s down 9% in the last 24 hours, currently trading at around $1,690 after hitting a high of $1,878 in that timeframe.
Altcoins are also taking a hit: Ripple’s XRP, Cardano’s ADA, Solana’s SOL, and Polkadot’s DOT are all in the red, down 10%, 11%, 8%, and 10% respectively over the past day.
The downturn led to $600 million in liquidations of leveraged bets due to margin calls this morning, Coindesk reported citing Coinglass data.
As Ryan Shea, crypto economist at Trakx, told Fortune last week, cryptocurrency will continue to react to the moves of the Fed. For any “bullish scenario” to play out again, it “requires [Fed] confirmation that inflation has peaked and is rapidly falling back,” Shea said.
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