Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and major altcoins have dropped precipitously amid news of the US Department of Justice (DOJ) arrest of the founders of Samourai Wallet.
According to the news, Samourai Wallet CEO Keonne Rodriguez and chief technology officer William Hill will face charges of money laundering conspiracy and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmission business.
Within an hour of the DOJ announcement, Bitcoin prices dropped 3.6%. Its price fell to $63,710, before recovering slightly to $64,546, according to CoinMarketCap data .
Meanwhile, Ethereum dropped 2.51% in the same time frame but failed to bounce back, falling further to $3,158. The largest altcoins were also affected.
The sharp drop in price of the two leading cryptocurrencies has caused widespread liquidation of Longing positions.
According to CoinGlass data , in the past 12 hours, Bitcoin saw $33.08 million worth of Longing positions liquidated, Ethereum had $29.88 million, and about $23 million in Longing positions were liquidated. liquidation across the rest of the crypto market.
The cryptocurrency market decline also comes amid escalating geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
According to local reports, on April 24, the Israeli army attacked about 40 sites linked to Hezbollah in South Lebanon.
The crypto community had largely anticipated some short-term volatility following the Bitcoin halving, which occurred just a few days earlier on April 20.
Anonymous crypto trader Rekt Capital told his 456,400 X Watcher on April 24 that he predicts the next bull market peak will not occur until the end of 2025, about 546 days away. after halving.
The fluctuations occurred despite the overall positive investor sentiment in the cryptocurrency market.
According to the Fear and Greed Index , a measure of crypto market sentiment, the score rose to 72 this week, up 15 points from last week.
