The global crypto market continues to tumble on Wednesday as escalating tensions in the Middle East prompted investors to flee riskier assets. The cumulative crypto market cap dropped by almost 2% over the last day to stand at $3.26 trillion. The 24-hour trading volume took a hit of around 9% to drop to $121 billion, suggesting that traders might take a halt now.
The sell-off comes in when the US Senate made a historic move on crypto regulation. The assembly passed the Guiding and Establishing National Innovation for US Stablecoins (GENIUS) Act with a 68-30 bipartisan vote. However, the biggest crypto, Bitcoin, didn’t react to the positive update and dipped by 2% over the last 24 hours.
Altcoins dip as tensions rise
The top altcoins led the decline as Ether and Solana prices dropped by around 7-8% before slightly recovering. Ethereum price took a nose dive from trading above the $2,550 zone straight to the $2,450 zone. As the downtrend continues, Ether price is now down by 10% in the last 7 days. ETH is trading at an average price of $2,532 at press time with a trading volume of $23.2 billion.
Cardano (ADA) also slid by as much as 8% during the session. The sharp reversal came after a brief rally earlier in the week. ADA has been bleeding through this year and is down by more than 27% year to date (YTD). Cardano is trading at an average price of $0.61 at press time. It is already down by 80% from its all-time high (ATH) of $3.10, registered on September 2, 2021.
Bitcoin price dropped to hover around the $104k area, marking its sixth daily loss in the past seven trading sessions. BTC price still flashes green index on the frame period, but it has lost 5% of its gain over the last 7 days. The decline in crypto prices coincided with a broader market selloff driven by fears that worsening conflict in the Middle East could draw the US into deeper involvement.
As per the CoinGlass data , more than $260 million in leveraged long crypto positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours. Over 105K traders were liquidated as the total liquidations hit the $320 million mark. However, the largest liquidation order of ETH/USDT was valued at $4.23 million happened on Binance.
Source: CoinGlass
The latest slump seems like another blow to the idea that Bitcoin serves as a hedge against geopolitical instability. US spot Bitcoin ETFs posted a total net inflow of $216 million on June 17. It marked seven consecutive days of net inflows, which is quite the opposite of the trading market situation. Even Ethereum ETFs also recorded a total net inflow of $11.09 million in the same session.
Crypto’s biggest bill yet moves forward
As the turbulence continues in the digital assets market, the US Senate is done with the GENIUS Act . The bill is now headed to the House of Representatives, as it represents the most significant crypto legislation to date. It is expected to bring much-needed clarity to stablecoin issuers such as Tether and Circle.
The bipartisan support has given the bill strong momentum in the House, where lawmakers can either pass it as-is or make adjustments that would send it back to the Senate for final approval. Another positive move will land the bill on President Donald Trump’s desk.
The stablecoin market is already $261 billion strong. Tether’s USDT is leading the tally with $155.5 billion in market cap, while Circle’s USDC is the second in the race with a cap of $61.4 billion.
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