FINANCIAL CRISIS - It wasn’t just cryptocurrencies that crashed Monday, it was crypto exchanges, crypto mining stocks, publicly-traded companies holding large investments in crypto, and crypto ETFs.
By the time the closing bell rang, ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF had tanked by 20.22 percent on the day, bringing its year-to-date loss to 50.4 percent. Other crypto-related ETFs were similarly hammered. VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF gave up 19.86 percent, bringing its year-to-date loss to 53 percent.
Shares of crypto mining stocks, which were already battered and bruised, were further bloodied. Among the worst of the lot was BIT Mining Ltd. (ticker BTCM) which plunged 36.60 percent, bringing its year-to-date loss to 79.9 percent.
The graphic below shows how nine other crypto mining stocks performed. Year-to-date, these stocks have lost 60 to 85 percent of their market value. The companies are: Argo Blockchain PLC (ARBK), Bitfarms Ltd. (BITF), Hive Blockchain Technologies Ltd. (HIVE), Hut 8 Mining Corp. (HUT), Greenidge Generation Holdings (GREE), Iris Energy (IREN), Marathon Digital Holdings Inc. (MARA), Riot Blockchain Inc. (RIOT), and Stronghold Digital Mining (SDIG).
The ongoing downdraft in crypto had a new fuse lit on the news that cryptocurrency lender, Celsius Network, has frozen withdrawals. The large crypto exchange, Binance, also suspended Bitcoin withdrawals for three hours Monday morning, blaming it on a “stuck transaction.” The news of the gate locking in crypto accelerated the panic selling.
(Pam Martens & Russ Martens are writers for Wall Street on Parade.
