https://ift.tt/3zZrgW9 falls to $38,000 to hit a six-month low.

The leading cryptocurrency Bitcoin (BTC) has dumped 7.5% in the past 12 hours, plunging to 6-month lows from $43,328 yesterday to $38,258 by 4 am UTC today. Today’s price crash has so far wiped about $50 billion from the overall crypto market. The total crypto market cap has been on a slow decline since early November 2021, when it reached a peak of $3 billion.

The entire crypto market lost around $147 billion in 24 hours.

The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ether, also dived over 9% in the last 24 hours. It was trading at $2,853 as of 1:42 am. ET, after falling as low as $2,809.51 in the last 24 hours, according to CoinDesk. About $147 billion was wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market in the past 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap.com. The declines in cryptocurrencies follow Wall Street losses on Thursday. The Nasdaq was down almost 5% this week, and the S&P 500 is into its third straight week of losses.

The crypto market continues to face heightened regulatory scrutiny. 

As mentioned earlier, Bitcoin prices have fallen sharply since November, tumbling more than 40% from a record high of about $69,000. Some experts have warned that the crypto market could be heading toward a downturn soon, as heightened regulatory scrutiny and intense price fluctuations dampened bitcoin’s prospects. Financial regulators are cracking down on cryptocurrencies too. China completely banned all crypto-related activities, and U.S. authorities are also clamping down on certain aspects of the market. As reported earlier, Russia’s central bank had proposed a ban over the use and mining of cryptocurrencies on Russian territory, claiming the digital currency poses a risk to “financial stability and monetary policy sovereignty.”