Bitcoin swoons toward $30K as global crypto market cap nosedives (Cryptocurrency:BTC-USD)

Bitcoin (BTC-USD), the world’s first-ever cryptocurrency, is plunging towards $30K in Monday afternoon trading as speculators increasingly embrace the sell trigger across risk assets.

Looking at its intraday price action, bitcoin (BTC-USD -10.8%) is extending losses from Monday morning, changing hands at $30.8K as of shortly before 3:30 p.m. ET. Ethereum (ETH-USD -11.0%) is also dropping to $2.28K over the past 24 hours. All three major U.S. stock market indices are facing increased volatility and selling pressure as well, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq (COMP.IND) -3.4% off the most.

The global crypto market cap is collapsing to $1.41T compared with $3T just six or so months ago, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The risk-off environment across the cryptosphere resembles that of tech and internet stocks during the Dotcom bust in the early 2000s, billionaire entrepreneur Mark Cuban, who is known as an avid supporter of the decentralized space, wrote in a Twitter post.

“Crypto is going through the lull that the internet went through,” Cuban highlighted, adding that “the use of Smart Contracts to improve business and profitability” will be the next driver, though “the chains that copy what every one else has, will fail.”

Stablecoins aren’t as “stable” as advertised. In the midst of a crypto market selloff, some stablecoins are de-pegging as crypto whales dump massive stakes. Earlier, TerraUSD (UST-USD), the third largest stablecoin by market cap, broke its peg to the U.S. dollar amid a series of large outflows. Since then, the algorithmic stablecoin fell to as low as $0.95 at around 2:45 p.m. ET. Treasury Undersecretary for Domestic Finance Nellie Liang in mid-February dived deeper into the risks and benefits of stablecoins, highlighting that they are not really backed dollar-for-dollar.

In other crypto-related news, Argentina’s central bank had prohibited banks from offering digital assets services, according to a statement dated May 5. “The measure ordered by the BCRA’s board of directors seeks to mitigate the risks associated with transactions with these assets that could be generated for users of financial services and for the financial system as a whole,” the statement read.

Meanwhile, here is what a crypto bloodbath looks like: binance coin (BNB-USD -14.3%), ripple (XRP-USD -14.5%), solana (SOL-USD -13.6%), cardano (ADA-USD -16.6%), dogecoin (DOGE-USD -14.2%), avalanche (AVAX-USD -16.1%), polkadot (DOT-USD -17.4%), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC-USD -10.9%), near protocol (NEAR-USD -5.8%), polygon (MATIC-USD -17.4%), litecoin (LTC-USD -16.4%) uniswap (UNI-USD -11.4%), bitcoin cash (BCH-USD -13.8%) and algorand (ALGO-USD -15.7%).

Earlier, crypto miner stocks drop more than bitcoin, as investors shy away from risk assets.