Bitcoin’s price experienced significant fluctuations following the announcement of another interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve Chairman, as expected.
Most altcoins have dropped considerably, especially those connected to the Tron blockchain due to the recent SEC allegations against Justin Sun.
BTC’s Value Drops by $2K
In the last few weeks, the global banking turmoil caused the primary cryptocurrency to reach a record high of over $28,000. Additionally, its price grew even further the day before yesterday, almost reaching $29,000 prior to the second FOMC meeting of the year.
Due to the recent events involving SVB and other banks, several prominent individuals, including Bill Ackman and Elon Musk, suggested that the Fed should reverse its interest rate hike strategy. Despite these suggestions, the central bank decided to proceed with a 25 basis point interest rate hike.
The cryptocurrency market reacted with immediate price fluctuations, causing BTC to drop from its peak of several months to $26,700 (on Bitstamp). The volatility continued in the opposite direction over the following hours, leading to millions of liquidations, with a total value of $260 million in a 24-hour period.
Currently, BTC is trading near $28,000 again, with its market dominance having risen to 46.2%.
LTC and APT Defy the Market
The altcoins showed similar or even more significant volatility after the announcement by the Fed. However, on a daily scale, most have suffered losses. Among the biggest losers are Ethereum, which dropped below $1,800, BNB that is well below $330, as well as Ripple, Cardano, Polkadot, Solana, and others.
TRX is among the hardest hit of the larger-cap altcoins after the SEC commenced action against Justin Sun. Despite his response to the allegations, other cryptocurrencies linked to TRON also suffered substantial losses.
Litecoin and Aptos are among the rare examples of digital assets that have appreciated in value. LTC saw an 8.5% increase and APT was up by 5.5%.
The cryptocurrency market cap has decreased by roughly $30 billion to $1.160 trillion.
