The massive crypto sell-off : Markets wipe off $1 trillion since November 2021

The global cryptocurrency market capitalisation dropped from $1.88 trillion to $ 1.7 trillion over a period of 24 hours.

The year 2022 till now hasn't been particularly kind to the cryptocurrency market. Since the start of this year, Bitcoin has been down 16 percent and Ethereum tumbling 22 percent.  And this southward trajectory continued for Bitcoin and other coins yesterday as well, when Bitcoin slumped to its lowest levels in the last 5 months, presently trading at $35,017.4. The second dominant crypto Ethereum is not faring so well, either, currently trading at $2,451.47.

This is a 40 percent fall for Bitcoin from its all-time high of  $69,000 in November 2021. This fall, coupled with the dip in other cryptocurrencies has resulted in almost $1 trillion being erased from the market ever since.

A market capitalization of around $150 billion was wiped out over the last 24 hours collectively by various cryptos, with the global crypto market cap declining by 14.75 percent, currently standing at 1.57 trillion, per data from the crypto portal Coinmarketcap.

With Bitcoin down 8.57 percent and Ethereum dipping 14.67 percent since yesterday, most cryptocurrencies, other than some stablecoins enlisted as the Top 100 biggest cryptos were swimming in red. Other major currencies like Cardano nosedived around 17.69 percent with Solana tumbling 23.44 percent over the last 24 hours.

But why the bloodbath?

The Central Russian Bank recently announced its intention to implement a blanket ban on crypto trading, circulation, mining and other associated activities, sending waves of fear across, given that Russia is a prominent crypto mining hub, preceding only the USA and Kazakhstan.

Adding to the chaos is the Federal Reserve's hawkish stance, an upcoming interest hike rate in March 2022 and the lukewarm performance of IT sectors.

The Fed is expected to raise interest rates multiple times during the course of this year in a bid to curtail inflation, thereby setting off a sell-off sentiment against risky investment classes like cryptos and making bond yields significantly more attractive.

Additionally, the Biden government, along with the US Congress is also sitting up and taking increased note of the impacts of cryptocurrencies, given that the administration is set to release a comprehensive strategy to cover various digital assets.

The pursuant massive Wall Street sell-off which took place yesterday is further pressed on by the crypto market's increasing linkage to the stock market, thanks to the rising institutional interest in crypto, which adversely impacts cryptocurrencies as well. Per CNBC, The Nasdaq Composite lost 7.6% over the week, and the S&P 500 fell 5.7% for its third straight weekly decline, exacerbating the crypto sell-off