Crypto market shrinks after another $350 billion gets wiped out over the weekend, with bitcoin at a 6-month low

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Cryptocurrency prices slid Monday, after $350 billion was wiped off the value of the total market at the weekend, as the prospect of an aggressive Federal Reserve kept jitters alive.

Leading digital currency Bitcoin fell almost 6% in the last 24 hours to $33,561, more than 50% down from its November record high of $68,790, according to CoinMarketCap data. Ethereum suffered heavier losses of more than 10%, dropping to $2,219.

Over the weekend, the overall cryptocurrency market shed $350 billion in value, bringing its decline over the last seven days to $400 billion. It is now worth around $1.60 trillion, after peaking at close to $3 trillion in mid-November, according to CoinMarketCap. 

Cryptocurrencies suffered big declines last week as they followed stock markets lower, buffeted by concerns about the prospect of a series of interest-rate hikes by the Federal Reserve this year. Bitcoin and ethereum dropped 22% and 32% respectively over the last seven days.

Higher rates tend to weigh on more speculative assets, as investors are more likely to put their cash into areas of the market that they perceive to be less risky.

«I am sure the techno sophisticates, the crypto bros, and the early Meta adopters wandering around in headsets wondering where everyone else is will try to re-boot, but this looks like a crash for now, even before we get to regulatory blue screens of death,» Michael Every, global strategist at Rabobank, said in a note.

Altcoins have seen more severe falls than the leading coins. Cardano dropped 13% over the last 24 hours to $0.97, and it has lost 36% over the last seven days. Meanwhile, solana shed 18% to reach $83.12 and logged a weekly loss of 42%. These so-called «ethereum killers»