Bitcoin
(BTC)
and
the
broader
cryptocurrency
market
fell
nearly
10%
on
Saturday,
with
the
price
of
the
largest
digital
asset
briefly
falling
below
$62,000
before
recovering
to
around
$64,000
as
of
press
time.
It
wasn’t
alone:
other
major
digital
assets
saw
similar
falls
over
the
past
24
hours,
including
ether
(ETH),
which
fell
7%
to
just
under
$3,000,
BNB
(BNB)
(down
9%)
and
solana
(SOL)
(down
12%),
according
to
CoinGecko.
Trading
volume
has
risen
over
that
same
time
period.
The
decentralized
finance
(DeFi)
sector
has
been
hit
particularly
hard
as
a
result
of
the
market
chaos,
with
depressed
prices
forcing
liquidations
and
raising
the
potential
of
havoc
for
some
protocols.
Among
the
protocols
being
closely
watched
is
Ethena,
the
buzzy
Ethereum
project
behind
USDe,
a
“synthetic
dollar”
built
to
mirror
the
price
of
the
US
dollar.
Ethena
has
attracted
more
than
$2
billion
in
deposits,
but
it
uses
a
controversial
method
for
maintaining
USDe’s
one-dollar
“peg”
that
hasn’t
been
tested
under
such
adverse
market
conditions.
The
immediate
cause
of
Saturday’s
market
declines
was
not
clear,
though
former
BitMEX
CEO
Arthur
Hayes
wrote
in
a
blog
post
last
week
that
dollar
liquidity
would
drop
right
before
tax
payments
are
due
in
the
U.S.
on
April
15
–
this
coming
Monday.
Lower
liquidity
would
lead
to
lower
prices,
he
said.
The
declines
also
came
as
Iran
launched
drone
and
missile
strikes
against
Israel,
in
what
the
Iranian
government
said
was
retaliation
for
an
airstrike
on
its
consulate
in
Damascus,
Syria
that
it
attributed
to
Israel.
Crypto
market
prices
began
to
recover
after
the
X
(formerly
Twitter)
account
associated
with
Iran’s
Permanent
Mission
to
the
United
Nations
said
“the
matter
can
be
deemed
concluded,”
though
it
warned
of
a
“considerably
more
severe”
attack
“should
the
Israeli
regime
make
another
mistake.”
