Crypto Flipsider News – Bitcoin’s 2-Year Low; Solana Loses 31%; $875M in Liquidations; Stablecoins’ FTX Exposure; Meta Layoffs

Read in the Digest:

Crypto market bleeds: Bitcoin sets 24-month low – ETH -18%, FTT – 80%.

Solana (SOL) drops 31% as liquidations spike amidst Alameda Research links.

Crypto market suffers $875 million in liquidation in 24 hours as BTC sheds 11%.

Tether and Circle deny exposure to struggling FTX and Alameda Research.

Mark Zuckerberg confirms Meta layoffs as over-optimism leads to overstaffing.

Crypto Market Bleeds: Bitcoin Sets 24-Month Low – ETH -18%, FTT – 80%

Coming out of a bullish weekend, the cryptocurrency market is in the midst of its biggest price plunge since June, as the FTX – Binance drama sets off one of the biggest cases of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in the market this year.

Bitcoin (BTC), the world’s biggest crypto has suffered a 13% fall in value over the last 24 hours, sending its price from over $20k down to as low as $17,402–its lowest price point since November 2020. In the aftermath, Bitcoin is trying to reclaim the $18k mark, and trades at $17,900 at press time.

The 24 hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

Ethereum (ETH), the second-largest crypto, took an even bigger hit than Bitcoin, as its value slumped by more than 18% in the last 24 hours. The plunge sent the price of ETH spiralling to as low as $1,157 from $1,560. At press time, ETH currently changes hands at $1,225.

The 24 hour price chart for Ethereum (ETH). Source: CoinMarketCap

FTX Token (FTT), the native token of the struggling FTX exchange, has suffered the heaviest losses of all. FTT has lost 80% of its value in the last 24 hours to trade as low as $4.71, despite being valued at above $22 before the recent drama ensued.

The 24 hour price chart for FTX Token (FTT). Source: CoinMarketCap

Flipsider:

Sam Bankman-Fried, the Founder of FTX and Alameda has looked on in horror as his net worth plummet by 93% from $16 billion to $991 million in just one day, with further losses still expected.

Why You Should Care

The fallout from the FTX and Alameda crash came about due to the exchange’s prominence in the global exchange market.

Solana (SOL) Drops 31% As Liquidations Spike Amidst Alameda Research Links

Solana (SOL) has been one of the coins impacted the most by the FTX crash after reports of links between Sam Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research and Solana emerged.

As revealed in recent days, Alameda Research allegedly holds $292 million worth of “unlocked SOL”, $863 million of “locked SOL”, and $41 million of “SOL collateral”. Crypto analysts have opined that the company could look to offload their SOL holdings as the company looks to stay afloat.

Over the last 24 hours, the price of Solana (SOL) has fallen by more than 31%, bringing Solana to a price point 92% short its all-time high. The plunge may have been further exacerbated by the degrading performance of the Solana network.

The 24 hour price chart for Solana (SOL). Source: CoinMarketCap

Solana whales have endured the brunt of the plunge, with SOL traders experiencing the third biggest liquidations in the last 24 hours, involving positions worth $55 million. Wu Blockchain reported that one SOL whale suffered a deficit of $44.8 million in USDC.

Flipsider:

Solana had enjoyed a rally of 15% on Saturday, November 5th, after partnering with Google Cloud to make it a block validator for the network.

Why You Should Care

Solana’s downward spiral is compounded by the large chunk of SOL held by Alameda, as well as its seemingly never-ending network problems.

Crypto Market Suffers $875 Million in Liquidation in 24 Hours as BTC Sheds 11%

As the crypto market suffers its biggest losses since June, owing to the ongoing inward collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX exchange and Alameda Research, liquidation of positions held by traders has hit the roof.

The 24 hour price chart for Bitcoin (BTC). Source: CoinMarketCap

According to on-chain data, crypto market traders have been forced into liquidations exceeding $875 million in the past 24 hours. The purge was cut evenly across short and long traders, causing Bitcoin to shed 11% of its value in the last 24 hours.

Accordingly, Bitcoin traders suffered the most in terms of liquidations, with over $263 million worth of positions lost in the last 24 hours. With the price of ETH tumbling by more than 18%, its traders have been also been forced to give up positions amounting to $226 million.

Futures traders were seemingly not spared from the disaster, as Glassnode reported that the total liquidations in Bitcoin futures markets surpassed $121 million during the sell-off, $106 million of which were long positions.

Flipsider:

Despite Bitcoin’s slump, the ‘Fear and Greed Index‘ remains clear of the “extreme fear” zone, and currently registers 29/100.

Why You Should Care

The rumours surrounding FTX, backed by its token’s ailing price after dropping 80% and the subsequent potential acquisition by Binance, have all contributed to worsening the sell-off.

Tether and Circle Deny Exposure to Struggling FTX and Alameda Research

As Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire continues to fall to ruin, stablecoin giants Tether and Circle, issuers of the USDT and USDC stablecoins, have denied any form of exposure to FTX and Alameda Research.

Paolo Ardoino, Tether’s CTO, confirmed that the stablecoin issuer has no exposure to FTX or Alameda in response to a Wu Blockchain tweet which urged the stablecoin issuer to disclose if its users were at any immediate risk.

According to Ardoino, while Alameda Research has issued and redeemed a lot of USDT in the past, Tether has no credit exposure, matured or otherwise, with the struggling crypto trading firm.

Similarly, Co-Founder and CEO of Circle Jeremy Allaire took to Twitter to explain that, although FTX had been a Circle API for more than 18 months, Circle has little equity in FTX, as is the case with other exchanges.

Flipsider:

While FTX participated in Circle’s funding round, an approximate 80% of the firm’s assets are in the form of 3 month or less U.S. treasury bills in the custody of BNY Mellon.

Why You Should Care

The disclosure from the top stablecoin issuers is aimed at quelling the FUD surrounding the ensuing collapse in an attempt to limit the damage being done to the crypto market.

Mark Zuckerberg Confirms Meta Layoff After Over-Optimism Leads to Overstaffing

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has confirmed that his company will be carrying out on a massive wave of staff layoffs beginning on Wednesday, November 9th.

The report comes after Meta announced a 4% drop in revenue for the third quarter, and a loss of more than $3.7 billion from its Metaverse projects. Meta currently has a headcount of more than 87,000 employees.

In a Tuesday meeting at the company, Zuckerberg reportedly took responsibility for the company’s downturn, stating that his “over-optimism” about the growth of Meta led to overstaffing.

According to reports, Meta is likely lay off “many thousands of employees”. The broad cuts announced by Zuckerberg are expected to cut across the company’s recruiting and business teams. An update is expected on Wednesday evening.