By Akinwande Soji-Ojo
The value of cryptocurrency market stood at $1.59 trillion on Saturday, representing 12.91 per cent decline over the last 24 hours, according to data on CoinMarketCap.
The price crash culminated in a loss of over $350 billion in one day.
This is coming barely two months after the market value of the crypto market increased to $2.94 trillion, following Bitcoin’s record high of $68,000.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, plunged below $35,000 — its lowest dollar value since August 2021.
The value of the cryptocurrency declined over 10 per cent to $34,908 in the last 24 hours at 5pm GMT+1, on Saturday.
On Friday, the price dropped to $38,147 after Russia’s Central Bank proposed to ban all cryptocurrency operations in the country.
Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, also dropped over 15 per cent to $2,392.
In May 2021, the bitcoin price also crashed after China clamped down on cryptocurrency miners.
The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) had in February 2021 directed banks to close accounts of persons or entities involved in cryptocurrency transactions within their systems.
It claimed that digital currencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin, and others are largely used in terrorism financing and money laundering, considering the anonymity of virtual transactions.
