Illustration by Mitchell Preffer of Decrypt.
More than a week after the launch of the Spot Bitcoin Exchange Traded Fund (ETF), the cryptocurrency market is in trouble.
Over the past week, Bitcoin (BTC) has lost more than 10% of its value. according to To CoinGecko. The largest digital coin by market capitalization currently costs $41,002.
Last week it was close to $49,000.
The long-awaited Bitcoin ETF has been a huge success, with BlackRock's iShares ETF attracting over $1 billion in assets under management.
So why are prices plummeting? That likely has something to do with investors cashing in on the initial ETF hype.
Some analysts said ETF approval was already “priced in.” This likely means that traders and investors are unlikely to continue buying after approval is officially announced.
The rest of the crypto market also took a big hit last week. Solana (SOL) has lost more than 7% in value over the past week to $92.38.
Avalanche (AVAX) is down over 14%, trading at $32.82. Both assets have attracted interest from institutional investors and had a very strong December.
Meanwhile, Ethereum (ETH), the second largest digital coin, has lost 8% of its value over the past week. Current price is $2,466.
The crypto world is currently waiting for the spot ETH ETF to fall after the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approved 10 spot BTC ETFs.
Wall Street's top regulator on Thursday extended the deadline for a decision on Fidelity's proposed Spot Ethereum ETF to March 5, leading to a fall in the asset's price.
The total cryptocurrency market currently stands at $1.7 trillion, down 2.8% in the past 24 hours.
