In the early hours of March 3, bitcoin briefly slipped below $22,000. Over the past 24 hours the asset fell 4.5%, according to CoinGecko.
Bitcoin is currently trading near $22,400.
The second largest crypto has fallen 4.7%. The price collapsed from above $1,640 to the current $1,564.
Following the leaders into the red zone were crypto assets from the top 10. At the time of writing, Dogecoin shows the worst performance (-6.4% in 24h). The market cap of the sector stands just above $1 trillion.
In the last 24 hours, liquidations on the futures market reached $245 million, according to Coinglass.
On February 14, the price of the leading cryptocurrency briefly corrected against the backdrop of US inflation data that exceeded expectations. But two days later, the quotes tested the $25,000 level.
Marcus Thielen, Director of Research and Strategy at Matrixport, in comments to Cointelegraph suggested that the price of bitcoin was influenced by the decision by Silvergate Capital Corporation to push back the filing deadline with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and heightened regulator scrutiny of the industry.
«Nevertheless, this plays into the hands of Hong Kong and China, which are becoming more crypto-friendly,» the expert added.
In a conversation with CoinDesk, Nick Rako from ContentFi confirmed the view that Silvergate affected the market:
«Institutions are a little worried, because Silvergate seems to be in trouble».
Earlier Moody’s downgraded the rating of the financial institution from «Ba3» to «B2». Analysts attributed the move to a substantial decline in capital after a loss of $1.05 billion for the quarter ended December 2022.
In early March, LedgerX, a platform of the FTX Group, notified clients of terminating its cooperation with Silvergate and advised making transfers in fiat via Signature Bank.
In February, ФРС, FDIC and OCC issued a joint statement reminding U.S. banks of potential risks arising from crypto-focused firms.