Bitcoin, ETH and major altcoins briefly lost value following news that the founders of Samourai Wallet were arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) amid ongoing tensions in the Middle East and post-halving volatility.
Samourai Wallet cryptocurrency CEO Keonne Rodriguez and Chief Technology Officer William Hill will face one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of operating an unlicensed money transfer company.
Within an hour of the Justice Department's announcement, Bitcoin's price fell 3.6%. Its price fell below key support levels to $63,710 before rising slightly to $64,546, according to CoinMarketCap data.
Meanwhile, Ethereum fell 2.51% over the same period, but did not rebound, falling further to $3158.
The steep price declines of the two largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization caused widespread liquidation of long positions.
According to CoinGlass data, in the last 12 hours, long positions worth $33.08 million were liquidated in Bitcoin, $29.88 million in Ethereum, and long positions worth about $23 million were liquidated in the rest of the cryptocurrency market .
The decline in the cryptocurrency market also comes amid further escalation of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East.
According to local reports, on April 24 the Israeli military struck some 40 Hezbollah-linked sites in southern Lebanon.
The cryptocurrency community had already largely anticipated short-term volatility following Bitcoin's halving event just days earlier on April 20.
Pseudonymous cryptocurrency trader Rekt Capital told its 456,400 X watchers on April 24 that it predicted the next bull market peak would not occur until late 2025, some 546 days after the halving.
