A broad weekend selloff in crypto accelerated during Sunday evening U.S. hours, sending bitcoin (BTC) plunging to levels not seen since February and ether (ETH) back to prices not seen since December.
Bitcoin is lower by 12% over the past 24 hours and 20% on a week-over-week basis. Now down 21% over the past 24 hours and 30% over the past week, ether (ETH) has given up the entirety of its year-to-date gain, and is off by roughly 3% since Jan. 1.
The broader CoinDesk 20 Index is down 12% over the past 24 hours.
The trigger for what's now become a massive correction in crypto and traditional markets just might have been the Bank of Japan, which last week hiked its benchmark interest rate. That monetary tightening sent the yen shooting higher and the country's Nikkei stock index tumbling. Down another 6% early Monday, the Nikkei is now lower by roughly 15% over the past three sessions and 20% from a mid-July peak.
The action in Japan spread to the U.S., where the Nasdaq slid more than 5% in last week's final two sessions. Nasdaq futures are lower by 2.5% in Sunday evening action.