2022 has brought a further drop in the crypto currency space.  As big money investors line up their plans for this new frontier and decide if NFT’s, Currencies, or Blockchains is their high of choice, the crypto market has many smaller investors questioning their positions.

The price of bitcoin dropped below the $44K zone on Wednesday to $43,678 per unit as the entire crypto-economy has shed billions in value. At the time of writing, the overall crypto economy is down 4.5% as it dipped to $2.25 trillion in value.

Bitcoin and Crypto Economy Sheds Billions, Crypto Fear & Greed Index Indicates ‘Extreme Fear’ Is in the Air

• Bitcoin (BTC) slid in value today, roughly 5.4%% during the last 24 hours. Just after 3:00 p.m. (EST) prices dipped from $46K to $43,678 per unit. BTC’s price is just below the $44K price range against the U.S. dollar.

• The entire crypto-economy of more than 12,000 crypto assets is down 4.5% and around $2.25 trillion in value. Leading assets like ethereum (ETH) dipped 5.9% and solana (SOL) shed 7.8%.
• At the time of writing BTC has $25.9 billion in global trade volume and tether (USDT) commands $53 billion in global swaps. The biggest loser in the top-ten crypto markets was terra (LUNA) as it shed 9.2%.

• Crypto assets that didn’t get affected by BTC’s downward slide include chainlink (LINK), olympus (OHM), and leo token (LEO). Convex finance (CVX), spell token (SPELL), and axie infinity (AXS) suffered the biggest losses during the market rout.
• The stablecoin market captures $58.8 billion of today’s $98.5 billion in trades. Out of the $2.25 trillion today, stablecoins represent $166.4 billion of the value.
• Currently, BTC’s market cap is around $836.2 billion in value while ethereum’s (ETH) is $427.7 billion. BTC dominance has dropped significantly and to the lowest point in more than three and half years.
• BTC dominance today is 37.5% the lowest its been since June 2018, while ETH dominance is 19.2%.
• At press time, BTC is holding above $44K per unit but has a $ 24-hour range of $46K to $43.7K on Wednesday. Stablecoins have also been feeling the brunt as many are trading a cent or two under the $1 peg.

• The stablecoin USDC and its market valuation of around $42.6 billion is now the sixth-largest market cap today. USDC has seen $2.6 billion in global trade volume during the last 24 hours and is trading for $0.99 per unit.
• Metrics from the Crypto Fear & Greed Index show “extreme fear” is the sentiment for today with a score of 24 at the time of writing.

Jamie Redman