Crypto crash gathers steam over weekend

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies tumbled on Sunday, with losses for the asset class building over the weekend following U.S. data that showed persistent inflation pressures in May, marking the fastest pace of increase since December 1981.

Bitcoin BTCUSD, -11.69% dropped more than 7%, and at one point fell to $24,990, its lowest level since December 2020. Ethereum fell more than 9% to around $1,340, while sharper losses were seen for meme coins such as Dogecoin DOGEUSD, -18.39%, off about 9%, at last check Sunday night, according to CoinDesk and Kraken data. Crypto lending platform Celsius announced it was pausing all withdrawals and transfers amid “extreme market conditions,” as its CEL digital token plunged nearly 50% late Sunday.

Cryptocurrencies, which trade 24 hours, are tracking deep losses for Wall Street following Friday’s data that showed U.S. inflation rose 1% in May, well above the 0.7% monthly rise forecast by economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. The annual rate rose 8.6%, topping the 40-year high of 8.5% seen in March. The Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, -2.73%, S&P 500 SPX, -2.91%, Nasdaq Composite COMP, -3.52% suffered the biggest weekly losses since January. Stock futures sank Sunday night, with Dow futures down more than 200 points.