Crypto Plummets As Altcoins Tank, Why Is Crypto Crashing Today?

The crypto market is crashing in the last 24 hours. The crypto market cap fell another 4% in the last 24 hours and is in serious danger of falling below the $900 billion mark. 

Bitcoin fell by 3% in the last 24 hours and is trading at $19,464. However, it is the altcoins that are facing the major brunt of this bear market.

Ethereum continues to face a major slump after the Ethereum merge. ETH fell another 8% in the last 24 hours. In the last 7 days. Ethereum has fallen by 23% and is trading at $1,344. 

Altcoins In A Major Slump

Ethereum’s price drop after the merge is reflected by the other altcoins. Cardano, Solana, Dogecoin and Polkadot all fell close to 7%. Polygon’s MATIC, Shiba Inu, and Avalanche faced an absolute bloodbath as they fell close to 10%. 

Ethereum Classic and ETHPoW were the two biggest losers of the last 24 hours. While ETC fell by 12%, ETHPoW fell by close to 50%. ETHPoW is a hard fork of Ethereum which hopes to keep Proof-of-work alive on Ethereum after the merge. 

Why Is Crypto Crashing Today

The crypto slump in the market is a direct result of the macroeconomic conditions at play. According to experts, the Ethereum merge could not have taken place at a worse time. Due to soaring inflation, the Federal Reserve has taken an extremely hawkish stance. 

The next Federal Open Market Committee will meet on the 21st of September to discuss the next interest rate hike. According to the CME Fed Watch Tool, the Fed will most likely go with a 75 bps hike. However, experts believe that the market is pricing in a 100 bps hike as well. A 75 bps hike will likely already be fully priced in and will not have a major impact on the crypto market.

Meanwhile, Elon Musk’s deflation warning and World Bank’s recession warning are also at play in light of the Fed’s jumbo hike.