Bitcoin falls below $20,000 as crypto market pressure mounts

Bitcoin has once again dipped below the psychological barrier of $20,000 on Wednesday morning, a level last seen on June 22.

At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency is trading at $19,998, down 5.27% in the last 24 hours, according to data provided by CoinMarketCap.

The rest of the market is also in the red.

Ethereumthe industry’s second-largest cryptocurrency, fell 7.45% on the day and is currently priced at around $1,128.

Other top cryptocurrencies have also fallen. Solana (SOL) is down 9.8% and is trading at $35.16, Avalanche (AVAX) fell 6.82% to $18.21, Binance coin (BNB) fell 8.39% to $219.62.

Bitcoin pulls the crypto market lower

The latest price action, which also saw the cumulative market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies plunge below $900 billion, can be seen as yet another sign of investor uncertainty and the growing pressure on the industry’s major players.

According to the latest CoinShares report, outflows for Bitcoin-specific funds totaled $453 million, essentially wiping out all inflows over the past six months. In other words, investors feel less comfortable with risky assets and rotate out of cryptocurrencies.

The deteriorating sentiment among investors was further evidenced on Tuesday, when Canada-based investment firm Cypherpunk Holdings sold 100% of its Bitcoin and Ethereum holdings.

According to the company’s announcement, Cypherpunk sold 205.8 Ethereum for $227,600 and 214.7 Bitcoin for $4.7 million. The firm said it collectively accrued $5 million in revenue from the sale of the two largest cryptocurrencies while retaining cash and stable coins on the hand.

“We continue to see systemic risks propagating throughout the crypto ecosystem and in our assessment of the risk-reward and opportunity costs associated with holding asset tokens, we believe the most prudent approach is to sit on the sidelines while we wait for the volatility and illiquidity contagion to come to its logical conclusion,” said Jeff Gao, president and CEO of Cypherpunk.

The market downturn is also forcing more companies to review their cost management practices, with leading European crypto broker Bitpanda joining the growing list of firms to announce layoffs.

The Vienna-based company, which last August was valued at $4.1 billion, decided to reduce its workforce from 1,000 employees to 730, citing changing market sentiment, geopolitical tensions, rising inflation and concerns about a looming recession among the reasons for the dismissals.

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