Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana Swing Wildly as Market Reacts to Binance-FTX Bombshell

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, and most other cryptocurrencies are experiencing a brutal sell-off following wild price gyrations today as traders make up their minds about what to do with the news that Binance is acquiring FTX.

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Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was already suffering this morning, trading below $20,000 after traders liquidated their futures positions and sold-off their holdings last night. 

Then news dropped that Binance, the world’s biggest digital asset exchange, was buying its primary competitor FTX, following a public feud between the two CEOs of the companies. 

Bitcoin has since swung up and down in price—at one point briefly closing in on $21,000.

But the asset’s price has since quickly plunged: it is now down 8.4% in 24 hours, priced in at $18,995, according to CoinGecko data. 

Ethereum is not doing well, either. The second biggest digital asset has now dropped below its crucial $1,500 mark—priced in at $1,413—an 11% 24-hour drop. 

The sell-off now means that both assets are down significantly in the past seven days: Bitcoin has lost 7.5% of its value while Ethereum is down 10.3%. 

Hit even harder than the two biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap is Solana—now the eleventh largest digital asset—which is down nearly 30% in the past day, valued at $23.97. 

FTX, which is one of the biggest spot and derivatives exchanges by volume, has deep connections to Solana, an Ethereum and Binance Smart Chain competitor. FTX last year launched a marketplace for Solana NFTs and has invested big money in several Solana-related crypto projects. 

Most of the biggest cryptocurrencies by market cap are also experiencing sell-offs. Binance’s native token, BNB, was up a fair bit just hours ago but is now quickly dropping in price, down 9% in the last hour.

Bitcoin, Ethereum and the wider crypto market have struggled since the weekend, ahead of two major events: the U.S. midterm elections happening today and the U.S. Bureau of Labor…