Crypto On Jan 6: Market Slides 8% After Fed Minutes Hint At Faster Rate Hike

Top cryptocurrencies traded in the red in a major market crash Thursday morning after the Fed's December meeting minutes raised concerns of a sooner-than-expected interest rate hike. The global crypto market cap tumbled 7.57% to $2.06 trillion as of 3.01 a.m. ET.

Bitcoin fell 6.77% in the last 24 hours to $43,264, while Ethereum slid 9.24% to $3,463, CoinMarketCap data showed.

Barring a slight upward swing in USD Coin, all of the top 10 cryptos suffered in the blood bath. Cardano, which was recently chosen by Samsung for its environmental sustainability initiative, crashed 7.75% to $1.23.

Meme tokens Dogecoin and Shiba Inu too slid more than 7%.

The Federal Reserve released minutes of its December meeting Wednesday, with policymakers indicating the potential for interest rates to start rising as soon as this March. This led to the world's topmost token Bitcoin to tumble and drag down the broader market.

However, experts are still hopeful that the sudden downfall will just lead to a longer cycle of bearishness and the market will be up again.

Pseudonymous investor PlanB expressed hopes that Bitcoin still stands the chance of reaching the $100k mark.

The crypto market is extremely volatile and experts recommend investors not make decisions based on the sudden shift in prices.