The price of Bitcoin has experienced another 4% drop today, bringing the value of 1 BTC to around $21,830. The price even briefly dropped to a low of $21,620 earlier today. The last time Bitcoin traded at these levels was on January 20.
The entire crypto market turns red
Today, not only the Bitcoin price turns red. Altcoins are also having a hard time. For example, over the past 24 hours, Ethereum (ETH) has lost 5.4% and is currently trading at around $1,545. Several other popular crypto coins have experienced even bigger losses.
For example, Cardano (ADA) and Dogecoin (DOGE) lost 6.5% and 7% respectively in the past 24 hours. The Solana (SOL) price even fell by 8 percent and Avalanche (AVAX) and Polkadot (DOT) recorded a loss of 8.4% and 8.8% respectively.
Yesterday, the combined market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies stood at $1.1 trillion, but at the time of writing, it has dropped to $1.06 trillion.
What is the reason for the crypto crash?
Last night, the crypto market was turned upside down when the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined crypto exchange Kraken $30 million for violating securities laws. This came to the fore when the company failed to register its strike-as-a-service program for its listing and sale. This, according to most people, is the reason behind today’s crypto crash.
While Kraken has neither confirmed nor denied the SEC’s allegations, the exchange has agreed to discontinue its stake service for US clients. This measure not only has immediate consequences for the exchange itself, but it can also have a long-term impact on the entire crypto world.
According to analysts, the SEC attack is again bad news for the US crypto world. Marcus Thielen wrote:
The SEC’s enforcement is bad news for the industry as it once again locks out Americans.
Crypto exchange Kraken can still offer its staking services to all its clients who live outside the United States.