Bitcoin's woes continued as the asset plunged to a fresh two-month low of $19,500 yesterday before rebounding sharply. This comes amid Silicon Valley Bank's troubles and the apparent exposure of certain cryptocurrency companies, including Circle and its stablecoin, which lost dollar parity.
For almost a week, Bitcoin has held steady around $22,000 and failed to generate any major moves in either direction. However, the asset is known for its volatility, which is very rare. In fact, they are often accompanied by enhanced volatility.
That's exactly what happened when the cryptocurrency plunged nearly $2,000 on Thursday. While the reasons are still being debated, BTC continued to plummet and fell all the way to $19,550 (on Bistamp), its lowest price in two months.
Bitcoin reacted well to this sharp price drop. It almost immediately surged above $20,000 and headed towards $21,000. However, the Bears came back to play at this point and reversed course. As of now, the asset is inches above the coveted $20,000 line. Its market cap remains below $400 billion, while its dominance among altcoins has increased slightly to 42%.
Stablecoins were rarely talked about during Market Watch, but things are different today. The second-largest stablecoin is starting to lose its dollar parity following news that Circle holds around $3.3 billion in USDC reserves at troubled bank SVB. It dropped to $0.93 almost immediately and dropped further to $0.9 at the time of writing these lines. Its market cap lost more than $5 billion in a single day as investors turned to other stablecoins.
Altcoins, which are supposed to be much more volatile than stablecoins, are doing slightly better today. ETH recovered $1,400 after rising 2.3%. BNB is near $275. ADA, DOGE, DOT, SHIB, and AVAX have also increased significantly.
Additionally, MATIC and SOL surged 5% to 6% to over $1 and $17.5, respectively, in a single day. The total cryptocurrency market capitalization has increased by about $10 billion since yesterday, but is still well below $1 trillion.
