A sea of red spread in the crypto market, with top altcoins like Monero (XMR), Zcash (ZEC), Aster (ASTER), Pepe Coin (PEPE), Kaia, Story (IP), and MYX being the top laggards. All these altcoins plunged by over 8% in the last 24 hours, with most falling by over 20% in the last 7 days.
The ongoing crypto market crash has affected all coins, including blue-chip tokens such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and XRP. It pushed the market capitalization of all coins down from a record high of $4.2 trillion to the current $2.9 trillion.
Cryptocurrencies like Monero, Zcash, Aster, Solana, and Pepe Coin plunged as the Fear and Greed Index dropped into the Fear zone at 34. This fear is being driven by the rising geopolitical issues, including the potential trade war between the United States and China.
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Additionally, there is a risk that the US will attack Iran in the coming days, now that Donald Trump has sent an ‘armada,’ a large fleet of military vessels to the region. While Trump has said that his goal is not to attack, many military experts expect that he will attack soon.
A US attack on Iran would lead to higher crude oil prices and inflation. Higher inflation would make it difficult for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates. The Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged between 3.50% and 3.75% in its meeting this week.
The crypto crash is also happening as investors brace for another government shutdown amid ongoing protests against ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Additionally, these tokens are falling amid ongoing jitters in Japan, the world’s fourth-largest economy after the United States, China, and Germany. The country is going through a major challenge as bond yields surge and the Japanese yen continues its downward trend, such that the US is considering offering support
The crypto market plunge is also happening as the futures open interest remains under pressure, moving from the October high of over $255 billion to the current $128 billion.
Liquidations jumped by over 850%, with Ethereum suffering over $203 million and Bitcoin having over $178 million. Solana liquidations jumped to over $60 million.
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