Bitcoin Plunges Below $19,000, Ethereum Down to $1,000 as Crypto Assets Continue to Fall

Bitcoin has plunged below $19,000 in the latest fall in the crypto market as almost all crypto assets lost half of their value in the current fall.

Ethereum has also dropped to $1000 while three months back it was trading at $3829. On Thursday, Bitcoin plunged to $18,654 while in January 2021, it was trading at $47,700.

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Grayscale ETF Rejection

Thursday's drop comes after the SEC sent rejection letters for ETFs proposed by both Grayscale and Bitwise, while continued inflation fears also weigh on sentiment in the broader crypto market.

Binance's BNB Down 4%

Like bitcoin, sell-offs continued for other cryptocurrencies Thursday morning. Binance's BNB token (BNB-USD) down 4%, Solana (SOL-USD), down more than 6%, Cardano's ADA token (ADA-USD), down more than 4%, Chainlink (LINK-USD), down 3%, have all seen losses on the day, according to Yahoo Finance.

Previously, experts pointed out that if Bitcoin's value goes below $20,000, it will result in massive sell pressure.

Arthur Hayes, the former CEO and co-founder of BitMEX stated last week that if these levels break '$20k BTC & $1k ETH' we can expect massive sell pressure in the spot markets as dealers hedge themselves. "We can also expect that there will be some OTC dealers and that will be unable to hedge properly and might go belly up."

The massive drop in the value of the crypto assets comes as crypto lenders have barred their customers from executing withdrawals.

Two weeks before, crypto lender Celsius barred customers from withdrawing expressing concerns that the company would not have sufficient funds to cover a run on the platform.

Similarly, Babel Finance -- the second-largest digital-asset lender -- froze its withdrawals.

Babel Finance said that it faces unusual liquidity pressure at the time of the worsening market and to avoid further deterioration of the situation and to best protect the customers from losses.

"During this period, the redemption and withdrawal functions of Babel Finance products will be suspended and the recovery time will be notified separately. We apologize sincerely for the inconvenience caused to customers," the company said in a statement.

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