Bitcoin (BTC) hits 2-year low as fears of contagion from FTX collapse linger
The crypto market has been battered this year, with over $2 trillion wiped from its value since its peak in November 2021. Cryptocurrencies have been under pressure after the collapse of major exchange FTX.
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Bitcoin hit a two-year low on Tuesday as the cryptocurrency market suffered bruises following the collapse of major exchange FTX.
Bitcoin hit $15,480, its lowest level since Nov. 11, 2020, according to data from CoinDesk. The digital coin has since rebounded from that low and was trading at around $15,728.33 as of 4:08 a.m. ET.
The entire cryptocurrency market has lost more than $1.4 trillion in value this year as the industry has been plagued by issues ranging from failed projects to a liquidity crunch, exacerbated by the fall of FTX, once one of the largest stock exchanges in the world.
Crypto’s latest troubles began after Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao said his exchange would sell off its FTT tokens. FTT is the native digital currency of the FTX crypto exchange. Binance’s move caused the collapse of FTX, a company once valued at $32 billion. FTX has since filed for bankruptcy.
To make matters worse, the hackers stole around $477 million worth of cryptocurrency from FTX, most of which was converted into digital ether. But hackers have started laundering this bitcoin money. Because they sell ether, the price of ether has also been under pressure.
Ether was trading down about 3.5% at $1,089.42 as of 4:08 a.m. ET.
FTX can have over a million creditors. It owes more than $3 billion to its top 50 unsecured creditors.
Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned as CEO earlier this month and was replaced by John Ray III.
Ray is looking to sell or restructure FTX’s global empire.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried is still holding out hope that they can negotiate some sort of deal to bail out FTX, CNBC reported.
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