After the World Health Organization (WHO) warned of a new COVID-19 variant named Omicron detected in South Africa, the cryptocurrency market went into panic selling on Friday.
With Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) falling below $63,000 and markets closing in the red, many crypto traders have had their positions liquidated.
Bitcoin’s decline pulled down the entire market along with it.
Over $751 million worth of trader positions in digital assets were wiped out in 12 hours. Among those losses, 85.2% came from investors holding long positions.
Binance long liquidations accounted for the biggest portion of the losses at $266 million, representing 42.22% of the total liquidations. Okex and FTX saw the second and third-largest liquidations, accounting for $143 million and 58.25 million, respectively.
According to technology expert Kate Rooney, the new coronavirus variant is sending shockwaves across markets worldwide.
“This is really the same knee-jerk reaction we’re seeing in tech and some of the higher-growth names with news of that covid variant. Bitcoin is still seen as that riskier asset. The inflation and safe-haven narrative is really not sticking quite yet,” Kate said.
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