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 (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 percent came from investors holding long positions.
Binance long liquidations accounted for the biggest portion of the losses at $266 million, representing 42.22 percent 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.
