Bitcoin (BTC) extended its decline on Monday, pressured by widespread bearish sentiment across the crypto market and ongoing weakness in US stocks.
As markets closed, Bitcoin slipped under $91,015, marking a 2% drop over the past 24 hours and the lowest price this month.
On the other hand, Ether (ETH) saw a steeper decline, falling 5.9% during the same period. This follows a major hack on the ByBit platform last Friday, which resulted in the theft of over 446,000 tokens worth more than $1.4 billion.
Still, ByBit has assured users that it has restored a 1:1 backing for customer assets and closed the so-called “ether gap.” The attack has been linked to the Lazarus Group, a North Korean state-backed hacker collective known for targeting cryptocurrency platforms.
After last week’s sharp declines, an attempted rebound in major US stock indices faltered Monday afternoon, with the Nasdaq closing 1.2% lower and the S&P 500 slipping 0.5%.
Solana leads crypto declines as inflation and token unlocks weigh
Among major cryptocurrencies, Solana (SOL) was the worst performer, plunging nearly 10% in the past 24 hours and a staggering 41% over the past month. Beyond its association with the waning meme coin frenzy, SOL is also under pressure from upcoming token unlocks in March and a 30% rise in SOL inflation following the implementation of SIMD-96, which modified the network’s fee structure. Trading at $151 at press time, SOL has now erased all its post-election gains.
“Trying to communicate to folks who may be feeling complacency/denial that $95,000 is still not a bad exit price relative to where I think we could trade in 6-12 months,” Quinn Thompson, founder of Lekker Capital, a crypto hedge fund that specializes in using macroeconomic data for its trades, posted on social media.
Thompson projected an 80% probability that Bitcoin will not reach new highs within the next three months and a 51% chance that it will remain below record levels for the next year.
Economic risks mount as the job market weakens
Meanwhile, Neil Dutta, head of economic research at Renaissance Macro Research, noted growing risks to the labor market in the US economy.
He cited lagging real incomes, a weakening housing market, and lower spending levels by state and local governments. These concerns are weighed against a market median GDP forecast of about 2.5%, which has not improved.
Dutta noted that if 2023 was about being surprised to the upside, there is more risk in 2025 of being surprised to the downside. He continued:
A passive tightening of monetary policy is the dominant risk, and that has important implications for financial market investors.
Neil Dutta
Dutta said he would anticipate a decline in longer-term interest rates and a selloff in equity prices as risk appetite wanes.
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