Markets slide further as coronavirus declared ‘global pandemic’

Markets took another beating today following recognition from the World Health Organization (WHO) that the coronavirus outbreak is now a “global pandemic.” And crypto is offering no haven.

Since last Monday’s damaging fall, which saw the price of Bitcoin drop as low as $7,600 per coin, crypto has lost billions in total market cap. Today, market capitalization for all cryptocurrencies dropped as low as $216 billion. It stood at more than $260 billion just last Saturday.

The markets have recovered somewhat since this morning--now standing at around a $222 billion market cap—but not enough to make a real difference to traders and hodlers.

The industry’s top three coins—Bitcoin, Ethereum and Ripple (XRP)—have all incurred drops anywhere between one and five percent over the past 24 hours. CoinMarketCap currently shows Bitcoin trading at just under $7,800, while Ethereum has fallen below $190 and Ripple is back to trading at $0.20.

Yesterday’s big winner in crypto, Tezos (XTZ), is today’s big loser: down nearly 7 percent and trading for $2.45 per token. It’s the worst performing asset in the top 10 crypto assets by market cap, with regard to daily losses.

Meanwhile, the stock market took another serious hit. The Dow has dropped another 1,400 points during today’s final hour of trading, despite showing signs of recovery yesterday afternoon. Oil has also fallen to about $32 per barrel from $34 one day ago.