A severe cryptocurrency market correction has triggered $1.7 billion in liquidations over the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin dropping from above $100,000 to $94,100 and Ethereum falling 8% below $3,800.
The market-wide selloff resulted in $168 million in short liquidations and $1.5 billion in long positions being wiped out. The total crypto market capitalization shrank by 7.5% during this period.
While Bitcoin has partially recovered to $97,800, it remains 2% lower over the last day. The broader crypto market continues to face pressure, with most alternative cryptocurrencies dropping at least 10%. Among top cryptocurrencies, Ripple (XRP) fell 11%, Dogecoin (DOGE) declined 10%, and Cardano (ADA) plummeted 13%.
Two key factors appear to have contributed to Monday's market downturn:
The Royal Government of Bhutan transferred 406 Bitcoin to Singapore-based trading firm QCP Capital, followed by another $19 million worth of Bitcoin moving to a Binance hot wallet. This follows Bhutan's sale of 367 Bitcoin last month for approximately $33.5 million.
Additionally, Google's announcement of its new quantum computing chip 'Willow' sparked concerns in the crypto community. The chip can reportedly complete certain calculations in under five minutes that would take current supercomputers about 10 septillion years.
While some market participants worry about quantum computing's potential threat to cryptocurrency security, experts note that current quantum capabilities remain far from being able to break Bitcoin's encryption. Kevin Rose, partner at True Ventures, explained that compromising Bitcoin's security would require a quantum computer with roughly 13 million qubits, while Google's Willow chip has just 105 qubits.
The crypto market continues to monitor these developments as prices attempt to stabilize following the sharp correction.