Cryptocurrencies have fallen to new lows with regulatory concerns along with a desire to divest from risky assets in light of interest rate rises seeing investors dump their digital assets.
Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell about 5% to a three-month low of $18,387, whilst ether, the second largest cryptocurrency, fell 3% to a two-month low of $1,285 and is down more than 10% in the last 24 hours.
The majority of other tokens, less established and therefore deemed even more risky, were much further in the red.
The Ethereum blockchain, which underpins the ether token, had a major upgrade over the weekend called the Merge that is set to reduce the technology’s energy consumption by more than 99%, a move developers believe could pave the way for widespread adoption.
The news that the long-awaited upgrade was going ahead saw ether bounce back from an annual low, peaking at $1982.92, before falling again following remarks from a leading regulator.
Comments last week from US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Gary Gensler have led investors to speculate that the new structure could attract extra regulation, whilst trades around the upgrade also were unwound.