Crypto Market Plunges $325 Billion in Seven Days

The crypto market has experienced a significant downturn, with its total market capitalization plummeting by $325 billion since last Friday. Bitcoin's price took a sharp 8% hit, dropping to the $87,000 mark, while leading altcoins like Ethereum, XRP, and Solana saw losses exceeding 12%.

The recent crypto market collapse can be attributed to a combination of liquidity issues, macroeconomic trends, and technical sell-offs. According to The Kobeissi Letter, a leading global capital markets commentary platform, crypto markets erased $100 billion in just one hour today without any major headlines. The platform pointed out that around $150 billion in liquidations occurred in 24 hours, dragging almost all cryptocurrencies down. Even the meme coin sector, which had been booming, saw a steep decline. Notably, CoinGlass data showed that $1.49 billion has been liquidated in the last 24 hours amid the broader digital assets market crash. As of writing, the global crypto market cap stood at $2.9 trillion.

Solana was one of the key players in the recent crypto frenzy, especially with meme coins driving its rapid surge. However, as memecoin hype started fading, Solana price suffered a drop of around 20% in a week. Initially, this decline remained isolated from Bitcoin, but it later spread across the market.

Adding to the market-wide sell-off, the S&P 500 also began losing ground on Friday. Bitcoin, often correlated with broader financial markets, followed suit. Once Bitcoin broke below the $98,000 support level, panic selling intensified. As of writing, BTC price was down about 8% and hovered near the $87K mark.

Interestingly, the sharp decline came just hours after a report that the $65 billion financial giant Citadel Securities is exploring the crypto space as a liquidity provider. However, instead of boosting market sentiment, the news triggered a “sell-the-news” reaction. Another major blow came from the Bybit hack, which cybersecurity firm Arkham Intelligence described as the “largest financial heist in history.” The hack exceeded $1 billion in stolen assets, more than doubling the infamous $611 million PolyNetwork breach in 2021. Such security incidents erode investor confidence