26 Billion Dollars Wiped Off Cryptocurrency Market In 24 Hours

Cryptocurrency markets plunged following a plummet in oil prices and further sell-off in stocks.

The market capitalization or entire value of cryptocurrencies was down$26.43 billion from a day earlier at around 1:17 p.m. Singapore time, according to data from Coinmarketcap.com. The sell-off worsened as the day went on.

Bitcoin, the biggest cryptocurrency by value, fell over 10% in 24 hours at around the same time.

The violent sell-off in the cryptocurrency market comes after international oil benchmark Brent crude futures plummeted 30% to $31.02 per barrel, its lowest level since Feb. 2016. That was sparked by Saudi Arabia slashing its official selling prices for oil after OPEC failed to agree on a deal on production cuts. This has led to fears of an oil price war. Brent has since pared some of its losses.

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Major Currencies Dip As Volatility Shoots

Major Asia Pacific currencies dropped against the U.S. dollar on Monday morning, as investors took a risk-off approach with volatility across markets shooting up over an oil price war.

The Australian dollar fell as much as 2.60% against the greenback to $0.6476, while the New Zealand dollar tumbled by as much as 2.28% to last change hands at $0.6228.

The Korean won declined more than 1% against the dollar, prompting South Korea’s finance ministry to issue a verbal warning against “excessive” movements in the currency market, according to a Reuters report.

“We’re closely monitoring speculative transactions that seem to be taking advantage of unstable market sentiment. The herd-like behavior (in the won) seems excessive short-term,” a finance ministry official told Reuters. Investors tend to regard phone messages from foreign exchange authorities as official verbal interventions in the onshore currency market, according to Reuters.

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