Bitcoin dives to $66,000 on Fed woes

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Bitcoin saw its price Tuesday dive to $66,000 for the first time in three weeks as worries about the Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting mount.

The price of the world's biggest cryptocurrency plummeted to as low as $66,051 at around 1.25 p.m. EDT. It was trading at $67,520 at 3.53 p.m. EDT for a daily loss of 2.8%.

Bitcoin last saw its price plummet to $66,060 on May 20, but quickly rebounded later that day and posted a daily gain of 7.77%.

Ethereum was down 4.7% to $3,497 on Tuesday, while some altcoins saw their prices plummeting as much as 12% for the day.

The total value of the cryptocurrency market stood at $2.44 trillion with a 3.85% daily loss Tuesday, while Bitcoin's share, known as dominance, was at 54.4%. Ethereum's was at 17.2%, according to CoinMarketCap.

The sudden selloff in the crypto market came as investors are worried that the Fed's first interest rate cut could be postponed beyond September, while the central bank is widely expected to keep its federal funds rate unchanged between the 5.25% - 5.5% target range at the conclusion of its two-day meeting Wednesday.

Cryptocurrencies, in addition, are considered a shallow market, which has relatively lower liquidity with fewer buyers and sellers, and less trading activity which has a stronger impact on prices, leading to higher volatility.

While the cryptocurrency market's total value stood at $2.44 trillion on Tuesday; in comparison, gold's estimated global market cap is more than $15.6 trillion, and the New York Stock Exchange's market cap was over $28 trillion as of March.