Cryptocurrency prices took a hit during the European morning, with altcoins and meme coins leading the decline. SOL and DOGE were among the hardest hit, with both trading lower by 4.5% and 10% respectively in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin also fell below $66,000 to around $65,300, a decrease of 0.9%, while ether dropped over 3.25% to $3,400. The broader digital asset market, as measured by the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20), was down just over 3% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin ETFs continued to see outflows, with $145 million exiting the market on Monday.
In a surprising turn of events, DOGE bulls liquidated $60 million in long trades on Monday, outpacing BTC counterparts. This was the largest hit DOGE has taken since May 2021. BTC long bets lost $47 million, while ETH fared even worse with $76 million in losses. Overall, crypto longs saw over $440 million in losses due to profit-taking and dollar strength affecting the market. Open interest, which measures the number of unsettled futures bets, dropped by 16% to $600 million. Traders are positioning for further declines in DOGE futures, with the long-short ratio currently at 0.94, indicating a bearish bias.
Meanwhile, Layer-2 blockchain ZKsync launched its airdrop on Monday, with 45% of the tokens claimed in under two hours. The ZK token started trading at $0.31 and has since dropped by about 32% according to CoinGecko data. The market capitalization is around $800 million based on the circulating supply, with 3.7 billion tokens eligible for distribution. On a fully diluted basis, the market cap would be $4.5 billion. The ZK token has been listed on exchanges like Binance, Bybit, and KuCoin, despite Binance initially planning to delay the listing due to technical issues with its node.
In other news, the total value locked in the TON blockchain has surged from $11 million to $603 million since December. This 54x increase in six months reflects the growth of the TON-based economy within Telegram, according to DefiLlama data.
It’s important to note that CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet covering the cryptocurrency industry. Journalists at CoinDesk adhere to strict editorial policies to maintain journalistic independence. As of November 2023, CoinDesk is operated as an independent subsidiary under the Bullish group, majority-owned by Block.one. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.