Crypto Market Sheds $73 Billion—Ethereum, Solana, Avalanche Hit Harder Than Bitcoin

The cryptocurrency market is down more than 4% over the last 24 hours, shedding more than $73 billion in market cap, according to data from CoinGecko, and layer-1 blockchain platforms outside of Bitcoin (BTC) have taken some of the hardest hits during that span.

Ethereum (ETH) has shed more than 6% of its value over the last 24 hours, currently sitting at a price of $2,861. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap has bounced back from recent lows around $2,750 twice over the last week, but is trending downward again this morning.

Competing platforms like Solana (SOL) and Avalanche (AVAX) have seen even larger declines over the last day. Both are dubbed “Ethereum killers” and seen as chief rivals to Ethereum’s dominance in the worlds of DeFi, peer-to-peer lending and trading, and NFTs—those crypto collectible tokens that have moved billions in value since the start of year.

Solana is currently down nearly 10% over the last 24 hours at a price of $131. SOL climbed dramatically over the course of August and early September, rising from a price of just $35 on August 1 to an all-time peak above $213 earlier this month, per CoinGecko.

However, a network outage that began on September 14 and lasted for more than 17 hours appeared to slow Solana’s upward momentum, on top of wider bearish market sentiment of late.

Avalanche, also a big gainer in recent weeks, is down nearly 8% over the past day at a current price of $64. Like Solana, Avalanche has popped since the start of last month, rising from about $13 on August 1 to an all-time high above $79 on September 23.

Likewise, Algorand (ALGO)—another challenger to Ethereum’s dapp dominance—is down more than 8% over the last 24 hours at $1.62. Alrogand likewise saw a significant pop in value in recent weeks, even doubling in value over the course of two days earlier this month.

Not every notable cryptocurrency is taking hits this hard today. Bitcoin is down less than 4% over the last 24 hours at a current price of $41,634, for example, while Dogecoin (DOGE) has shed just over 2% at a price slightly below $0.20.

Today’s crypto market declines may be tied into rising bearish sentiment amongst investors. Today, the Conference Board announced that the Consumer Confidence Index has dropped further, suggesting increasing caution in spending amidst continued COVID-19 concerns.

The stock market is also down this morning, with the NASDAQ dropping more than 2% and the S&P 500 and Dow seeing less severe declines.

This morning’s accelerated crypto market declines have also come during testimony from Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell and Janet Yellen, the United States Secretary of Treasury. The pair are appearing before the U.S. Congress to discuss the economic response to the impact of the pandemic.