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Bitcoin Drops As Iran Launches Missile Attack On Israel – What We Know So Far

The price of Bitcoin took a nose dive on Saturday following reports of Iran launching missile and drone attacks on Israel. Alongside the market leader, many other prominent cryptocurrencies also experienced a significant selloff as news of a brewing international conflict in the Middle East circulated on the internet.

Bitcoin Suffers Major Decline For Second Consecutive Day

According to multiple reports on April 13, Iran commenced a drone attack against Israel in retaliation to an attack on an Iranian diplomatic building in Syria on April 1 which claimed the lives of nine Iranian officers, including a highly ranked general in Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards.

This incident marked Iran’s first-ever direct assault on the Jewish state following years of rising political tensions between both countries. With the Iranian forces confirming further missile attacks on “specific targets” in Israel, it is likely that both nations may be heading for a full-scale war.

Following reports of the drone attacks in the Middle East, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 8.07%, falling from $67,132.1 to $61,710.58, reflecting a high selling pressure. Interestingly, this price action marked the second consecutive day the maiden cryptocurrency suffered a significant loss following a 5% decline on Friday amidst minor turbulence in the US stock markets.

Generally, Bitcoin has shown an underwhelming performance in the past weeks, recording a 12.51% loss in the last month based on data from CoinMarketCap. The maiden cryptocurrency has struggled to replicate its bullish form seen at the beginning of 2024 when it achieved a new all time high price of $73,750.07. However, with the Halving event fast approaching, BTC investors are likely optimistic about a potentially massive price gain in the coming months based on historical price data. 

Currently, Bitcoin trades at $63,943, showing a 3.61% gain from its earlier slump on Saturday. In tandem, the token’s daily trading volume is up by 22.46% and valued at $57.37 billion.

Altcoins Not Spared From Market Crash

Alongside Bitcoin, the price of altcoins also decreased significantly due to the escalated geopolitical tension in the Middle East. Ethereum, the most popular altcoin and second largest cryptocurrency, suffered a loss of 10.89%, falling as low as $2,880.16

Meanwhile, other prominent tokens such as Solana (SOL), XRP, and Avalanche (AVAX) also recorded price dips to the tune of 12.68%,18.11%, and 16.00%, respectively. Generally, the total crypto market cap declined by 7.78%, falling to around $2.2 trillion.

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SafeMoon Executives Face DOJ Arrests And SEC Charges – SFM Plummets More Than 50%

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) recently announced charges against SafeMoon, its creator Kyle Nagy, the company’s CEO, John Karony, and CTO, Thomas Smith. 

The SEC alleges that these individuals orchestrated a “massive fraudulent scheme” involving the unregistered sale of SafeMoon (SFM), a “crypto asset security” as defined by the SEC. 

Per the complaint, instead of delivering the promised profits and taking the token “Safely to the Moon,” the defendants allegedly wiped out billions in market capitalization, misappropriated investor funds, and withdrew over $200 million in crypto assets for personal use.

On this matter, David Hirsch, Chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s Crypto Assets and Cyber Unit, emphasized the need for caution in the decentralized finance (DeFi).

SEC Charges SafeMoon And Executives 

According to the complaint, Kyle Nagy assured investors that funds in SafeMoon’s liquidity pool were safely locked and inaccessible to anyone, including the defendants. 

However, according to the SEC’s investigations, large portions of the liquidity pool were never locked, and the defendants allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars, indulging in extravagant purchases such as McLaren cars, luxury homes, and lavish travel.

The SEC’s complaint reveals that SFM’s price skyrocketed by over 55,000 percent before plummeting nearly 50 percent when the public discovered that the liquidity pool was not locked as claimed. 

Notably, Karony and Smith allegedly used misappropriated assets to manipulate the market and prop up SafeMoon’s price through wash trading.

The SEC’s complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York, charges the defendants with violating registration and anti-fraud provisions of the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. 

Indictment Unsealed Against Executives For Securities Fraud

An indictment was also unsealed in federal court in Brooklyn, charging Braden John Karony, Kyle Nagy, and Thomas Smith with conspiracy to commit securities fraud, wire fraud, and money laundering conspiracy. Breon Peace, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, announced the arrests and charges.

United States Attorney Peace emphasized the commitment to pursuing fraudsters in the digital asset space, stating that their “ill-gotten gains” would not protect them from justice. 

Ivan J. Arvelo, Special Agent-in-Charge of Homeland Security Investigations, New York, highlighted the “relentless pursuit” of individuals exploiting investors and the financial system for personal gain. 

It is noteworthy that the charges in the indictment are allegations, and the defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

SFM Token Crashes To Lowest Trading Price Since Launch

Following the recent disclosure of the news, SFM has experienced a significant crash, plummeting by over 52%. Currently, the token is trading at $0.00009142, marking its lowest trading price since its launch in 2022. This substantial decline of over 72% within the past year underscores the severity of the case.

SafeMoon

Furthermore, when examining other time frames, the token has seen declines of 49%, 34%, and 24% over the past seven, fourteen, and thirty days, respectively. These figures highlight the ongoing downward trend and emphasize the magnitude of the situation.

Featured image from Shutterstock, chart from TradingView.com

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Bitcoin Crash Sends Institutional Investors Running For The Hills

Small and retail investors are not the only ones getting hit hard by the Bitcoin crash. Institutional investors are also feeling the heat of the market crash. This has sent the institutional investors running as inflows had halted for the last week. Outflows from crypto and blockchain-related investments grew steadily over the course of the weeks, totaling more than $100. million.

Institutional Investors Stay Away

The institutional outflows for last week have been concerning for crypto investors but in no way surprising. With the emergence of the ‘crypto winter’, it has signaled that the bear market is in full force. Thus, investors are forced to react accordingly.

Outflows had climbed throughout last week and had come out to a total of $102 million. It culminates a long-running outflow trend that had mostly stayed in the altcoins. However, this time around, bitcoin has been drawn into this trend.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Drops To 18-Months Lows, Has The Market Seen The Worst Of It?

The pioneer cryptocurrency saw outflows totaling $57 million last week alone. This was the case across the short-bitcoin investment products which had also recorded outflows. For bitcoin, these weekly outflows bring its month-to-date outflows to $91 million. Short-bitcoin investment products are now only seeing $55 million of total assets under management (AuM) compared to $27 billion for its longer-term bitcoin investment products.

Total market cap drops below $1 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
Outflows All Across Crypto

Ethereum had been recording consistent weeks of outflows over the past several months and this past week was no different. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap saw $41 million in outflows this past week. This brought its year-to-date outflows to $387 million, only now making up 4.4% of the total crypto-assets under management. 

Blockchain quiddities have also joined the league of outflows with a total of $5 million in the past week. As well as multi-asset investment products which saw $4.7 million of outflows. The majority of the outflows recorded for last week have been from the Americas, making up more than $98 million outflows. Their European counterparts only recorded $2 million in outflows for the same time period. 

Related Reading | Exchange Inflows Ramp Up As Crypto Investors Clamor To Exit Market

What this shows is the general sentiment of investors towards the crypto market no matter what avenue they have invested through. The bear market is expected to last for at least another year and as such, investors have begun to plan accordingly. 

The crypto market cap has now fallen below $1 trillion for the first time since January 2021. With sentiment skewing powerfully into the negative, there is no sign of recovery or relief for investors.

Featured image from The Financial Express, chart from TradingView.com

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Anthony Scaramucci Urges Bitcoin Holders To Think Long-Term As Downtrend Won’t Last

The bitcoin downtrend has no doubt rocked investors to their core. This is evidenced by the decline of the Fear & Greed Index into the extreme fear territory, reaching as low as 11 on the scale. Investors, understandably, are wary of the market and what the next few weeks, and by extension, months, may hold for them. If this is the beginning of a bear market, then there could be another two-year wait to the next bull rally.

Anthony Scaramucci has however urged bitcoin investors not to despair during this time. Despite the market crash that sent the digital asset to six-month lows, Scaramucci, who is the CEO of Skybridge Capital, has told investors to look towards the long-term when investing in bitcoin.

The Bitcoin Crash Is Temporary

The CEO was on CNBC’s Squawk Box to talk about the crypto market. In this interview, Scaramucci shared some insight into how he viewed the market and the current crash, which he does not believe is a cause for alarm. He urged bitcoin buyers to take some time to cool off from the market, advising them to look toward long-term investing instead of what the market is doing right now.

Related Reading | Has Bitcoin Reached Its Bottom? Analyst Says It Still Has A Long Way To Go

Holding bitcoin for the long-term has always been the mantra of bitcoin maximalists, who believe more in the future of the digital asset than what it is doing in the present. Scaramucci has resonated with this in his latest advice. The CEO explained that bitcoin investors need to buy the digital asset for the long-term, as well as other cryptocurrencies which he expects to do well in the future.

BTC trading north of $37,000 | Source: BTCUSD on TradingView.com

Scaramucci pointed to the fact that a lot of investors say that they are invested in the long-term but yet are fazed by what happens in the short term. “Everyone is a long-term investor until you have short-term losses, and then you start freaking out,” said the CEO. “Take a chill pill, stay long bitcoin, other cryptocurrencies like Algorand and Ethereum, and I think you’re going to be very well-served long-term in those investments,” he advised investors.

Forget The Dollar, BTC Is BTC

Currently, the value of bitcoin is derived from how much it sells when compared to the dollar. This is how investors measure their holdings and how well they are doing in the market. However, Scaramucci rejects this idea of valuing bitcoin in terms of dollar figures and urges investors to just look at the digital asset for what it is; bitcoin. For the CEO, BTC is BTC and the dollar is the dollar.

Related Reading | Bitcoin Whales Take Advantage Of Market Crash To Gobble Up Millions In BTC

He revealed that he tells clients of his investment firm SkyBridge Capital to invest in cryptocurrencies as long as they size it appropriately. “I don’t want my clients to miss this. I’m telling them to size it appropriately — that’s a 1% to 3% allocation, 1% to 4% at cost.” This is because the CEO believes that cryptocurrencies like bitcoin are inevitably going to be a part of the future.

Scaramucci also advised investors who get overly excited when they are investing in the market. He supports the idea of putting a small percentage of an investment portfolio into cryptocurrencies but cautioned against trying to lever digital assets like bitcoin due to its high volatility and the uncertainty that still clouds the digital asset. “It would be like levering Amazon back in 1998, ’99 and 2000,” the CEO warned.

Featured image from Vanity Fair, chart from TradingView.com

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Which Cryptocurrencies Suffered The Worse Collapse Since All-Time Highs?

Cryptocurrencies all across the market have been suffering major downside since the crash. The crypto market saw a couple of hundred billions shaved off its market cap following this. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and others have all seen their value decline significantly in the space of a week. However, in all of this, some digital assets have been hit harder than others. This report takes a look at those cryptocurrencies.

Metaverse Tokens Take A Hit

The crypto market’s recent decline has been characterized by bloody streets. As expected, bitcoin’s 52% decline from its all-time high has dragged down other digital assets with it. Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is down 54% from its own all-time high. While these cryptocurrencies have seen major downsides, others have managed even more dips since then.

Related Reading | Market Sentiment Crumbles As Sell-Offs Drags Bitcoin To $33,000

Metaverse tokens which made a big splash when social media giant Facebook announced it was rebranding to Meta and entering the metaverse space, have borne some of the largest weight from the crash. These tokens which rallied to multiple all-time highs in the last couple of months have declined as high as 68% from their all-time highs.

Metaverse tokens take some of the biggest hit | Source: Arcane Research

MANA, SAND, and AXIE are some of the most popular metaverse tokens and have grown a lot in price in accordance with their popularity. However, with the market crash, they have not been able to hold up well. All of these tokens have lost over 68% since they hit their all-time highs. All three met averse tokens are down, trading at $2.27, $3.27, and $52.66 respectively.

What About Layer 1 Cryptocurrencies?

Layer 1 cryptocurrencies also took a major hit but have seen a more varied performance when compared to the metaverse tokens. Heavy hitter like Solana (SOL) and Cardano (ADA) were some of the hardest hit Layer 1 cryptocurrencies, both of them going the way of the metaverse tokens with over 68% losses since their various all-time highs. Other lesser known Layer 1 tokens have a different story though.

Related Reading | Ethereum Leaves ETH 2.0 In The Past In New Roadmap Rebrand

FTM, ONE, ATOM, and Near, popularly referred to as the FOAN, made a splash while others were suffering. Each one of these cryptocurrencies have managed to outperform the market in a time where altcoins are dumping in response to bitcoin’s decline.

A look at decentralized finance (DeFi) paints a sadder story. This space that has brought finance products closer to the average investor saw some of the highest declines. Tokens from this space have recorded as high as 80% decline since their all-time highs.

The crypto market has managed to hold up against the crash but not before losing substantial value. In total, the crypto market is now down 50% from its all-time high. It now sits at $1.686 trillion at the time of this writing.

Crypto market cap crumbles to $1.6 trillion | Source: Crypto Total Market Cap on TradingView.com
Featured image from Bitcoin Magazine, charts from Arcane Research and TradingView.com

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Flash Crash Sends Cardano (ADA) Barreling Downwards To A $2 Retest

Cardano (ADA) has not been left out of the massive flash crash that just occurred throughout the market. What seemed to be a good day for bitcoin as El Salvador’s “Bitcoin Day” began has now turned to nothing short of a nightmarish market opening. The crash saw bitcoin drop $6K in only a matter of hours. While the general altcoin markets have recorded crashes as high as over 20% in the same timeframe.

With altcoins following bitcoin closely, the price of the ADA shows similar movement patterns to BTC following the flash crash. The number 1 crypto coin fell to the mid-$40K, taking the whole of the market down with it.

Related Reading | IOG Denies Rumors About Cardano Smart Contracts Platform

The flash crash has taken the market by surprise, given that general sentiment is positive and the Fear & Greed Index putting the market in “Extreme Greed”. There’s currently no exact reason pinpointed for this crash. Although massive liquidations to the tune of almost $1 billion across the crypto market look to be the culprit. The liquidated positions being mostly long positions.

Crash Puts Cardano (ADA) In Chokehold

Struggling alongside the other cryptocurrencies is Cardano (ADA). The asset had long left behind the $2 price point since mid-August, with indicators pointing towards a pathway to $5 following upgrades. But with the current flash crash, the digital asset lost over 18% of its value. This set it on a downward trend that saw ADA hitting the low $2s for the first time in three weeks.

Related Reading | New To Bitcoin? Learn To Trade Crypto With The NewsBTC Trading Course

Even though Cardano (ADA) has seen an upward correction that sent it towards mid-$2, the price is still maintaining a struggling pace. Trend lines in the asset show a sideways zig-zag, up and down pattern. Depicting numerous dips and recoveries in just the past hour alone. Starting the early hours of the morning was ADA at $2.75. A bit shaky but was holding on tight to this price point.

Flash crash sends ADA price to three-week lows | Source: ADAUSD on TradingView.com

At this junction, it is still too early to tell how much recovery ADA will make in the hours following the flash crash. It has so far recovered about 6% of value lost during the crash, with indicators pointing towards total recovery. As of the current time of writing, Cardano (ADA) is still trading low at a price of $2.45 according to Coinmarketcap, with a 24-hour price change of 13.46%.

Featured image from Currency.com, chart from TradingView.com