In an unexpected turn of events, the crypto market lost close to 6% of its value within a day, falling to $2.14 trillion on the first day of May.
The recent decline followed a federal judge’s decision to hand over a four-month prison sentence to former Binance CEO CZ Zhao despite the crypto exchange’s high profile settlement worth $4.3 billion in November.
Moreover, the recent drop came ahead of the Federal Open Market Meeting (FOMC) in the United States which is expected to bring further volatility in the market.
Bitcoin has recorded one of the most significant declines during the day. It fell 6.49% to $57,550.00, its first time to settle at this level since February 2024.
Altcoins did not perform any better, with Ethereum (ETH) leading the decline. Ether is currently trading at $2,890.00 after a 4.77% decline during the same session.
A report from CoinGape detailed an Ethereum whale under the username ‘0x035’ has offloaded 1,767 ETH valued at $5.4 billion in current prices. The said assets are believed to have been transferred to Upbit, fueling the already smoldering bearish sentiment in the broader crypto market.