Bitcoin Liquidations Top $300M as Top Cryptocurrencies Shed Double Digits

Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) have both slipped by double digits over the past 24 hours, sparking a wave of liquidations.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of over $470 billion, is down over 11% over the past 24 hours.

The leading cryptocurrency is currently changing hands at $24,437, a level last seen in December 2020. BTC is down over 64% from its all-time high of nearly $69,000, recorded in November 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The price of Ethereum has also dropped by over 15% in the last day, putting it under $1,300 for the first time since December 2020. 

Ethereum has lost over 74% of its value since November 2021, when it hit an all-time high of $4,891.70, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The ripple effects of the price crash are being felt across the crypto market. Solana (SOL) is down over 18% in the last day to around $27, according to data from CoinMarketCap. The coin has slipped by over 38% in the past week.

Other layer-1 blockchains including Avalanche (AVAX), Polkadot (DOT) and Cardano (ADA) have posted double-digit losses over the past 24-hours.

Over $778 million has been liquidated in the crypto market over the past 24 hours according to data from Coinglass. 

Ethereum leads the liquidations with $302 million liquidated, closely followed by Bitcoin with $300 million and Solana with $15 million over the same period of time. 

DeFi lending services slip

The primary reasons behind today’s bearish action are uncertainty among cryptocurrency lending services and extended plummeting of DeFi activity.

Crypto lending platform Celsius (CEL), paused all withdrawals and swaps in the early hours of Monday morning, causing its token to plunge by 70% in one hour.

CEL is currently trading at $0.19, down over 50% in the past 24 hours. Other DeFi lending services have seen their tokens slide, with Compound (COMP), Nexo (NEXO) and Aave (AAVE) all dropping by over 15% in the past 24 hours.

Nexo is the worst hit of the lending services after Celsius, with its token trading at $0.74, down almost 25% over the past 24 hours.

Total Value Locked (TVL) on Ethereum has dropped by over 9% to $56 billion in the last 24 hours, according to data from DefiLlama.

Lending platforms including Aave, Compound and Lido lost at least 5% of their TVL (or locked liquidity) over the same period of time.

Activity has slowed across the wider DeFi space, with TVL on Solana and Avalanche both dropping by over 13% over the same time period, according to data from DefiLlama.

The crypto market crash isn’t taking place in isolation, with wider financial markets also showing bearish action. The UK’s FTSE index is down 1.56%, Germany’s DAX index is down 2.03%, France’s CAC index down 2.39%, and India’s Sensex index is down 2.86% during Monday’s trading hours.