Bitcoin Falls Below $20,000 As Crypto Rout Intensifies

The price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell as low as $17,600 U.S. over the weekend before rebounding as volatile trading in cryptocurrencies continues.

Following a weekend of wild trading, Bitcoin rebounded and climbed 10% in early trading today (June 20) to hover around $20,000 U.S. Unlike stocks, cryptocurrencies trade 24-hours a day, seven days a week.

At the same time, Ethereum (ETH) rose more than 16% to trade at $1,130 U.S. after falling below $800 U.S. over the weekend.

Bitcoin has now declined 70% from an all-time high of $68,000 U.S. reached last November and is down 57% year to date.

The cryptocurrency market has been grappling with several issues in recent weeks, including the collapse of algorithmic stablecoin terraUSD (UST) and associated token Luna.

Last week, Celsius, a company with 1.7 million customers and nearly $12 billion U.S. of cryptocurrency assets, halted withdrawals from its account, raising worries that it is insolvent.

At the same time, cryptocurrency companies have been announcing rounds of layoffs amid the current market downturn. Cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) said last week that it is cutting 18% of its full-time employees.

Macroeconomic factors, such as high inflation and rising interest rates, are also hurting the cryptocurrency market.

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