Criptocurrency market falls below $1 trillion for first time since January 2021

The value of the criptocurrency market fell below $1 trillion for the first time since January 2021, according to data from CoinMarketCap, reaching as low as $926 billion.

The global criptocurrency market was at $2.9 trillion in November 2021, but it has faltered so far this year. In the last two months it has lost $1 trillion in value as investors ditched riskier assets in the face of high inflation and fears that interest rate raises by central banks will hamper growth.

The largest criptocurrency, bitcoin, fell to an 18 month low of $23,750, down more than 10 per cent on the day. It is down by around 50 per cent this year. The coin ether fell over 15 per cent to $1,210.

Susannah Streeter, senior investment and markets analyst at Hargreaves Lansdown said that as inflation proves to be an even trickier opponent to beat than expected,Bitcoin and Ether are continuing to get a lot of bruising in the ring.

They are prime victims of the flight away from risky assets as investors worry about spiralling consumer prices around the world.