The price of bitcoin slipped under the $30,000 zone on Tuesday, dipping to $29,300 per unit during early morning trading (EDT). The global cryptocurrency market capitalization dropped to $1.19 trillion, losing more than 6% in the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin's Market Cap Loses $19 Billion in 24 Hours
Digital currency markets have suffered significant losses over the past week, with many coins shedding double-digit percentages. Bitcoin (BTC) is currently trading at $29,656, down 5% in the last 24 hours. Weekly stats show BTC is down over 10%, holding a $556 billion market valuation—a $19 billion decline from yesterday. Bitcoin now commands 46.7% of the $1.19 trillion global crypto market cap, while Ethereum (ETH) holds 17.1%. Ethereum is trading at $1,757, down 5.7% on Tuesday and 11.9% over the week. Among the top ten coins by market cap, Polkadot (DOT) has fallen the most, losing 26% in the past week. Cardano (ADA) is down 19.3% and Dogecoin (DOGE) has dropped over 18% this week.
Stablecoins Dominate Trading Volumes, USDT Accounts for Over 70%
Apart from LEO, the top market performers today are all stablecoins, including DAI, TUSD, BUSD, USDC, USDT, HUSD, UST, and PAX. Some 52.18% of Bitcoin's trades are paired with USDT, and 51.09% of Ethereum trades are also in Tether. Total 24-hour volume across all crypto assets jumped over 15% to around $67.7 billion. Tether (USDT) commands $47.7 billion of that volume, representing 70.45% of all global trades recorded on Tuesday morning, according to data from Cryptocompare.com.
Google Trends Shows Lackluster Interest in Crypto
According to Coin Metrics' latest "State of the Network" report (issue 112), global search interest in Bitcoin has waned significantly. The report states: "Worldwide Google search volume for bitcoin shows that interest levels closely followed BTC's rapid price movements this year and tend to track major changes in price historically. Relative search interest this year for bitcoin has not yet surpassed levels achieved in late 2017. This might be a sign that many retail investors and the general public were already aware of bitcoin prior to the recent price movements this year. Institutional adoption is a big reason for bitcoin’s recent successes in 2020/2021, which will not be captured easily from Google search interest." Similarly, Ethereum searches on Google Trends are lower than three months ago.
Regulatory Pressure and Miner Migration Add to Market Jitters
The latest downturn has been attributed to issues with Bitcoin mining in China and global regulatory crackdowns. In the U.S., the New Jersey Bureau of Securities told crypto firm BlockFi to stop accepting new interest account users in New Jersey. BlockFi CEO Zac Prince commented: "The order calls for BlockFi to stop accepting new BIA clients residing in New Jersey beginning July 22, 2021. All aspects of the BlockFi platform continue to be accessible to our clients in New Jersey." Additionally, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) called on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to supervise cryptocurrency risks more closely.