Nearly $1 billion in crypto bets liquidated as bitcoin, ether and XRP slide

BREAKING: Nearly $1 billion in crypto bets liquidated as Bitcoin, Ether and XRP slide, with $BTC falling below $81,000 amid a global risk-off sell-off.

Nearly a billion dollars in crypto bets just got wiped out.

That's the liquidation tally as Bitcoin, Ether and XRP all slid together, with Bitcoin dropping below eighty one thousand dollars. These weren't careful investors taking a loss. These were leveraged traders, people borrowing money to bet the market goes up, getting force-closed by the exchanges when it went the other way. A billion dollars of conviction, gone in a session.

And it isn't just crypto. This is a global risk-off move, the same nerves rattling stocks and chips this week, with the Federal Reserve's next step on rates still anyone's guess. When the big money gets scared, crypto doesn't hedge the fear anymore. It amplifies it.

The hard truth tonight is this. Bitcoin was sold as the escape hatch from traditional finance, and right now it's falling in lockstep with everything else.

This is Sara White, reporting for HIT.