Crypto Market Loses $500 Billion As Bitcoin Continues To Fall

(MENAFN- Yolo Wire) The global cryptocurrency market has endured $500 billion U.S. (half a trillion dollars) of value destruction in less than a week as the selloff in Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) intensifies.

The total value of the worldwide crypto market has declined by $467.6 billion U.S. since Jan. 29, according to data from CoinGecko.

The lost value has been due mostly to the ongoing plunge in Bitcoin's price. The largest cryptocurrency by market value saw its price hit a 15-month low of $72,877 U.S. on Feb. 3

The price of BTC has now fallen 40% from an all-time high of $126,000 U.S. reached in early October of last year. So far in 2026, Bitcoin's price has decreased 15%.

Analysts say that the current crypto winter is turning into a blizzard as Bitcoin drags the entire market for digital assets such as Ethereum (ETH), Solana (CRYPTO: $SOL), and XRP (CRYPTO: $XRP) lower.

The ongoing crypto rout follows a series of forced liquidations that began last October and have wiped out $19 billion U.S. in leveraged bets.

In the past 24 hours, $700 million U.S. in crypto options have been liquidated in the futures market, taking the total wipeout in the options market to over $6.50 billion U.S. since Jan. 29.

The downward slide in Bitcoin is raising doubts among investors and analysts that the cryptocurrency functions as digital gold.

Analysts remain divided on when Bitcoin's downward spiral will end, with some now seeing $60,000 U.S. as a potential bottom for the cryptocurrency.

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