Bitcoin and Ethereum exhibited a downward trend early on Friday amid a broader selloff that has affected many of the market's leading cryptocurrencies. According to CoinGecko data, Bitcoin has declined 7.3% over the past 24 hours, falling from approximately $23,500 to $21,750 at press time. The price of Ethereum has fallen by 6.2% to $1,730. In recent weeks, the leading cryptocurrencies have risen, aided by renewed market optimism and widespread anticipation for Ethereum's upcoming "Merge" to Proof-of-Stake. Nonetheless, both assets have declined during the previous week as momentum wanes.

Several other significant crypto assets were also affected by the decline. As panicked market participants rush to exit their positions, the market value of cryptocurrencies with smaller market capitalizations tends to decline at a faster rate when Bitcoin and Ethereum are in a bear market. In the past twenty-four hours, Dogecoin, Polygon, NEAR, Solana, and Avalanche have all experienced double-digit losses.

Gnosis is an exception to the correction, as its stock price has risen by 5.2% despite the market's decline. Thursday, Gnosis Safe announced that it would be airdropping a new token called SAFE to early users. This likely explains why Gnosis has been able to withstand the volatility.

After the cryptocurrency market rebounded from its lows in June throughout July and early August, many market participants anticipated that the bullish trend would continue into the fourth quarter. Ethereum's Merge event, scheduled for September 15, is without a doubt the most potent catalyst for a potential price increase in the future. Nonetheless, growing concerns over Ethereum's censorship resistance in the wake of the Treasury's decision to sanction Tornado Cash have caused the once-popular Merge narrative to lose steam over the past week.

In the most recent retracement, the capitalization of the global cryptocurrency market decreased by approximately 6.8%. The current value of space is $1.08 trillion, which is 64% less than its peak in November 2021.