Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin and Ethereum Dive

Cryptocurrencies are deep in the red, with Bitcoin sliding below $59,000 and Ethereum off nearly 10%.

Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies crashed on Wednesday, wiping out billions of dollars in the market. The world's largest cryptocurrency fell below the key $60,000 level after rising as high as $62,700 earlier in the session. At one point, Bitcoin dropped to $58,240, marking its lowest price since August 19.

Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin and Ether Crash Further

Bitcoin is now trading at $59,160, down nearly 6.5% over the last 24 hours. The crypto giant had opened the week above the $61,000 mark. Meanwhile, second-largest cryptocurrency plunged almost 10% to $2,495, as per Gadgets 360 crypto price tracker.

After rising to a high of $2,700 in the morning session on Wednesday, Ether crashed to below the $2,500 level. The cryptocurrency had begun the week trading above $2,600. Among other top 10 cryptocurrencies, BNB fell nearly 4% to $528, Solana dropped 7% to reach $146, and XRP was down 4% to $0.56.

Dogecoin crashed 6.5% to reach $0.098, while TRON dropped 2.25% to trade at $0.158. Notably, the Telegram-related token, TON, rose nearly 5% over the last 24 hours after an initial sharp drop.

This rise comes after Telegram founder Pavel Durov was reportedly arrested in France on various charges, including fraud, money laundering, and tax evasion. The news of Durov's arrest led to a brief sell-off in the crypto market on Tuesday.

However, other major cryptocurrencies continued to struggle on Wednesday. The sell-off in the crypto market began earlier this week after the US Federal Reserve announced plans to start reducing its pandemic-era stimulus measures.

In a bid to curb rising inflation, the central bank also signalled the possibility of raising interest rates sooner than expected. The sell-off in the crypto market also intensified after Bitcoin failed to sustain above the $63,000 level.

As a result of the sell-off, traders liquidated over $313 million in crypto derivatives in the past 24 hours, marking the largest fall since the August 5 crash, according to CoinGlass data. Notably, ETH traders saw over $100 million in liquidations, while BTC traders faced $95 million in losses.