Cryptocurrencies Lose $26B In A Day Following Stock, Oil Dip As Gold Rises

The cryptocurrency market saw $26 billion erased from its market capitalization over 24 hours at press time on Monday as overall macroeconomic conditions remained unfavorable.

What's Affecting The Market

The number of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) cases increased over the weekend globally, with at least 110,041 cases and 3,825 deaths confirmed according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The cases skyrocketed in Italy at 7,375, forcing the government to lock down some of its central areas, including financial capital Milan.

554 cases have been confirmed in the U.S., with 21 reported deaths, affecting some of the biggest financial hubs, including Washington State, New York, and California.

Several tech companies, including Amazon.com Inc. AMZN, Facebook Inc. FB, and Microsoft Corporation MSFT, shut down their offices in affected areas and asked employees to work from home.

The market conditions worsened as oil tanked following Saudi Arabia starting a price war with Russia.

Russia reportedly denied accepting the supply cuts proposed by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries as a reaction to reduced demand from coronavirus outbreak. Instead of supply cuts, Saudi Arabia went the other way, discounting oil prices.

Cryptocurrency, A Safe Haven?

There has been a long-standing debate in the cryptocurrency community over whether the digital currencies act as safe havens in the time of global financial crises.

The cryptocurrencies have at times surged or dropped in tandem with traditional safe havens like gold and the Japanese yen, during the heightened tensions between the U.S. and Iran late last year, for example, even as stocks dropped lower globally.

Nevertheless, the decentralized currencies have acted out too frequently to establish a connection. As cryptocurrencies dropped on Monday, gold and Japanese yen surged.

Both spot gold and April gold futures briefly crossed $1,700 late Sunday, the highest in seven years. Yen gained 2.56 points against the U.S. dollar at 102.73.

Cryptocurrency Price Action

Bitcoin (BTC) traded 10% lower at $7,875.57 at press time on Monday, per CoinMarketCap data.

Ethereum (ETH) was down 13.19% at $200.72. Stablecoin Tether traded at its intended price of $1. All other top 10 currencies, too, saw double-digit losses in the 24-hours to press time.

No cryptocurrency, other than stablecoins, bucked the trend.