Flight of cryptocurrencies interrupted

Bitcoin collapsed 5.6% in the past 24 hours, retreating again below the $30K mark. Ethereum lost 6.1%, while leading altcoins in the top 10 fell from 5.2% (BNB) to 11.5% (Solana).

Total crypto market capitalisation, according to CoinMarketCap, sank 5.3% overnight to $1.23 trillion. Bitcoin’s dominance index fell 0.2% to 46.1%.

By Thursday, the cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index was down 4 points to 13.

Bitcoin fell sharply in the US session on Wednesday, along with stock indices, following a strong ISM Manufacturing PMI release. The data raised expectations of the US Fed monetary policy tightening. A stronger dollar and reduced risk traction in stock markets interrupted BTC’s flight, which returned to the previous sideways range it had been trading since mid-May.

The Solana blockchain network suffered another disruption on Wednesday. Solana’s validators failed to process new blocks for eight hours, leading to a complete shutdown of all its applications.

Executives at two Australian banks, ANZ and NAB, said they do not plan to allow their retail customers to trade crypto assets due to the high risks of losing funds.

Heng Swee Keat, deputy prime minister of Singapore, warned retail investors against investing in cryptocurrencies, recalling the collapse of Terra and UST. Crypto-assets are very risky and need proper regulation, he said.

Following the collapse of the Terra ecosystem, the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) plans to issue a second, even more “conservative” version of its recommendations on cryptocurrency regulation.

Harvard University’s anti-digital experts have urged US lawmakers to resist the pressure of crypto investors and not make any easing of the crypto industry.