Bitcoin falls below $20,000; Ethereum slips below $1,500

Shortly after activation of The Merge, Bitcoin’s price fell below the key $20,000 level. Ethereum was trading around $1,480 at the time of writing.

The chart below shows that the decline in Ethereum’s price was accompanied by a spike in trading volumes.

Ahead of The Merge, there was a strong inflow of Ether to centralized exchanges. That could have contributed to the current wave of selling pressure.

Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has fallen 2.9% and Ethereum 7.2%, according to CoinGecko. Total market capitalization remains around $1 trillion.

Earlier, former BitMEX CEO Arthur Hayes predicted Ethereum would rise to $3,000 after The Merge.

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