Combined Crypto Market Cap Slumps Below $1T as Bearish Momentum Gets Energized

The combined crypto market capitalization has plunged below the $1 trillion valuation mark for the first time since December 2020. The encompassing correction has seen the combined market cap drop by 12.65% to $961.40 billion, riding on the massive onslaught in the price of Bitcoin (BTC) which fell to its lowest level ($23,458.60) in more than 52 weeks. 

The entirety of 2021 has seen the crypto ecosystem slump from one sell-off to the other and the broader sentiment in the industry is now generally negative. The $1 trillion mark has been largely considered as the point that distinguishes the ecosystem either as one that has matured or one that is yet to break out. Depending on how long the valuation stays below the $1 trillion level, the level of interest is bound to remain on the bearish side.

Ethereum is bearing the brunt of the sell-offs even more, dropping 14.41% to an intra-day low of $1,220.97 at the time of writing. Other notable altcoins are also shedding off their gains in ways that many retail investors are largely concerned as to the potential for recovery in the near term.

Binance Coin (BNB) is down 12.80% to $224.02, and Cardano (ADA) is changing hands at $0.4597, down 9.14% at the time of writing per data from CoinMarketCap.

Crypto Market and the Metaverse Plunge

The decline of coins of top layer-1 blockchain protocols is just a basis to depict how encompassing the broader slump in the industry is. 

Data gleaned from CoinMarketCap gave additional insight into the trend in the metaverse industry as tokens even slid on a more negative basis. The Sandbox (SAND) plunged 15.42% to $0.8245, and ApeCoin (APE) is changing hands at $3.43, down 17.68% per data from CoinMarketCap. 

While the utility of each token is a determining factor that will define their prospective recovery in the near term, buyers are highly cautious at this time with respect to which tokens they buy and at what entry they choose to do so.