Crypto Limps To Lows As Selloffs Continue

Morning Report: As the week ends, a crypto selloff has hit bitcoin, ethereum, and other popular digital tokens and currencies hard. Let’s quickly examine the numbers.

The crypto markets were on fire during the closing months of last year. The aggregate value of all crypto assets spiked from under $200 billion as November started to over $800 billion in the first week of the new year.

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December was a heady period for crypto enthusiasts, seeming to bring to fruition patient optimism. Since those gains, however, the market for bitcoin and the asset class it pioneered has softened. The aggregate value of cryptos has fallen to about $360 billion, with another wide selloff hitting seemingly every major digital asset coming this week.

Bitcoin, far from $19,000+ highs, is worth less than $9,000 per coin today. Ethereum is worth under $700 as of the time of writing, off around half from its $1,300+ highs. The same sort of damage continues across essentially every crypto you can name when compared to their previous highs.

But we shouldn’t read too much into any particular price fall, or gain; the short-term price fluctuations of single cryptos or the broader set of coins that make up the class are only so important.

But what those changes do function as is a read on market interest concerning the sector, and, perhaps, that day’s optimism regarding short-term prospects of the class. So, the exact price of bitcoin isn’t too important, but the direction of its movement is, as it implies that interest in the best-known crypto is either going up or down.

You can verify that yourself by checking recent bitcoin transaction volume and search interest—both are sharply down, corresponding to recent price declines.

So, falling interest, slipping trading volume, and declining prices are the current dynamics of the crypto game. That could change in an instant, as we’ve seen before. But as this week closes, it’s red ink as far as you can see:

From The Crunchbase Daily:

Boxed said to reject $400M from Kroger

• Boxed, a service that delivers bulk items to consumers, has reportedly voted to reject a $400 million acquisition offer from supermarket chain Kroger. The New York-based startup will instead pursue further funding to remain private.

Multicoin raised about $50M, seeks more

• Multicoin Capital, an asset manager focused on digital currencies, has raised funding from a number of prominent investors, including venture capitalist Marc Andreessen. The Austin-based firm currently has about $50 million and is looking to close on $250 million by the end of June.

Women-led VC firms look to change industry dynamics

• Crunchbase News profiles three women-founded venture funds that were created to fund and promote diverse startup teams. All are just a few years old.

Warby Parker eyes big new round

• Online eyeglass retailer Warby Parker is raising up to $75 million in new funding, according to a securities filing. The financing would likely be at a higher valuation than Warby’s last round, which valued the company at $1.2 billion.
• Correction: On March 6th, the Crunchbase Daily featured a $20M round from Meniga. This was done in error – the company has not raised a recent round.