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The cryptocurrency market is once again seeing red, continuing a rather bearish trend seen over the past few days. As of 12:30 p.m. ET, Bitcoin (CRYPTO:BTC), Ethereum (CRYPTO:ETH), and Dogecoin (CRYPTO:DOGE), three of the largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, saw their prices drop 1.6%, 1.2%, and 2.6%, respectively, over the past 24 hours.
Macro forces appear to be behind at least some of this move, with concerns around the upcoming debt ceiling and an ongoing banking crisis hurting investor confidence in risk assets. Today’s outsize decline in Dogecoin appears to portray such sentiment, with other meme tokens dropping faster than the overall market.
Bitcoin’s decline appears to be tied to surging transaction fees on the Bitcoin network, which remain elevated in today’s session. High levels of congestion typically are a bullish indicator, but the fact that a transaction halt from Binance appears to be the driver of this higher transaction price has some investors concerned.
Ethereum co-founder Charles Hoskinson’s recent comments around a potential looming “economic and financial catastrophe” have not boded well for Ethereum, which continues to sell off as investors ponder what sort of activity levels will be seen moving forward, if the economy grinds to a halt.
It’s been incredible to watch the rebound in Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Dogecoin to start the year. What appeared to be a bull market rally with upside potential (assuming a pause-and-pivot scenario plays out) has once again given way to concerns that financial conditions may remain tighter, and ongoing macro concerns could bleed into the crypto sector.
In many respects, Bitcoin and Ethereum are often viewed as lower-correlation assets to the stock market (though that has been tested in recent years, given these assets’ relatively high correlation to higher-beta stocks), meaning there could be some hedging benefit to holding digital assets right now. That said, investors appear to be rotating into gold, commodities, and other safe-haven assets to a greater degree, suggesting that cryptocurrencies may not be immune to similar downside pressures as other asset classes right now.
It’s unclear the extent to which these top digital assets provide portfolio protection against what could indeed be a looming catastrophe. With U.S. Treasury bills now providing a 5% yield, investors of all types have an alternative to consider. This may be impacting investor demand for more speculative assets, despite rather strong price performance thus far this year.
Chris MacDonald has positions in Ethereum. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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