Bitcoin Price Dipped Below $52K Amid U.S. Treasury Rumors (Market Watch)

Another wild weekend in the crypto markets as Bitcoin plummeted by about $9,000 in hours amid rumors suggesting the US Treasury Department would charge several financial organizations for laundering money with cryptocurrencies.

The altcoin market is also deep in red with double-digit percentages that evaporated more than $350 billion from the crypto market cap.

US Treasury FUD Plummeted BTC?

As reported yesterday, the primary cryptocurrency had regained over $2,000 of value following its Friday price drop and was changing hands at above $62,000. However, the situation changed vigorously in the past 24 hours.

Rumors started to spread that the US Treasury plans to charge several financial institutions for money laundering through digital assets. Although the agency is yet to confirm the news, it seems this FUD caused massive disruptions in the cryptocurrency market.

Bitcoin fell in a matter of hours from about $61,000 to an intraday low of about $51,500 (on Bitstamp). This became BTC’s lowest price tag in three weeks, and the BTC market capitalization plummeted below the $1 trillion mark.

Despite bouncing off and recovering several thousand dollars of value to the $56k area, bitcoin is still more than 10% down on a 24-hour scale.

Altcoins Bleed Out Harder

As it typically happens when there’s enhanced volatility on the crypto street, the altcoins followed along. Ethereum led this adverse trend with a substantial nosedive from over about $2,350 to an intraday low of $1,950. After this $400 dump, though, ETH has also recovered some ground and is currently near $2,200.

Most alternative coins’ performance was somewhat identical. Binance Coin went from $520 to $440 before bouncing off to $470.

On a 24-hour scale all other large-cap alts have marked double-digit losses. Those include Ripple (-22%), Cardano (-17%), Polkadot (-17%), Uniswap (-17%), Litecoin (-21%), Chainlink (-17%), Dogecoin (-15%), Bitcoin Cash (-25%), and more.

The situation with the lower- and mid-cap altcoins is ever worse. BItcoin SV (-30%) has lost the most, followed by Ethereum Classic (-25%), Verge (-23%), Horizen (-22%), Helium (-22%), Dash (-21%), Ren (-21%), EOS (-20%), Siacoin (-20%), Avalanche (-19%), OMG Network (-18%), and many more.

Ultimately, the cumulative market cap of all crypto assets plummeted by $360 billion from yesterday’s high to today’s low. Nevertheless, it has regained some ground as well and is currently above $2 trillion again.