The bear market in bitcoin is dragging the market cap of the total crypto space back toward $2 trillion, tumbling from its peak of $3 trillion in November

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A bear market in bitcoin, ether, and other altcoins has driven the total market capitalization of cryptocurrencies to about $2 trillion on Thursday, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

That's a sizable drop from its recent peak of about $3 trillion in mid-November, when bitcoin peaked at about $69,000. Since then, the world's most popular cryptocurrency has plunged 38%, with its sell-off accelerating this week after minutes from the Federal Reserve hinted at the potential for sooner-than-expected interest rate hikes.

Bitcoin's Wednesday sell-off erased about $60 billion in market value, with the cryptocurrency losing a total $500 billion in value since its November peak. Meanwhile, ether lost about $50 billion in market value during this week's sell-off, and has seen its total market capitalization fall by about $170 billion since its peak.

Some investors expect the sell-off in crypto to be short-lived despite various support levels having been broken. Crypto bull Mike Novogratz expects bitcoin to find a floor around $38,000 as institutions step in and buy, representing additional downside of about 12% from current levels.

But bitcoin and ether aren't the only tokens driving the decline in the total market value of cryptocurrencies. More than 25 cryptocurrencies with a market value of at least $1 billion have erased 10% or more in market value over the past week. 

High-flying Solana fell 9% over the past day and is down 42% from its record high. Meanwhile, Cardano is about 60% below its record high, while Polkadot is down about 51% from its peak. If investors maintain their risk-off attitude towards speculative assets due to a tightening Fed, the decline in cryptocurrencies could continue. 

CoinMark