Crypto prices: Bitcoin drops 7.4% at $18,915, Ether down to $988

Bitcoin dropped 7.46% to $18,915.29 at 15:59 GMT on Saturday, losing $1,525.41 from its previous close. This marks a record-breaking 12th consecutive daily decline, reported Bloomberg.

The world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, Bitcoin is down 60.8% from the year's high of $48,234 on March 28. It has dropped below $19,000 for the first time since December 2020.

Ether breached $1,000 and dropped almost 11% to $975, the lowest since January 2021, losing $95.9 from its previous close.

The two bellwethers of the crypto market are both down more than 70% from all-time highs set in early November.

Altcoins were no exception to soured investor appetite in the wake of Bitcoin’s fall, with every token trading in the red. Cardano, Solana, Dogecoin and Polkadot recorded 24-hour falls of between 8.3% and 12% on Saturday, while privacy tokens such as Monero and Zcash lost as much as 11%.

A toxic mix of bad news cycles and higher interest rates has been deleterious to riskier assets like crypto. The Federal Reserve raised its main interest rate on 15 June by three-quarters of a percentage point – the biggest increase since 1994 – and central bankers signaled they will keep hiking aggressively this year in the fight to tame inflation.