why the crypto market crashed today Fed interest rate hikes : The Federal Reserve raised interest rates half a percentage point last week, and Wall Street responded with a stock slump. Crypto markets have followed suit, shedding more than 10% or almost $200 billion over the past week 1 . Investors are moving back to traditional assets, as higher interest rates make them more attractive and reduce inflation fears 2 . Crypto markets are highly correlated to indexes such as the Nasdaq, which is down 21% this year, while Bitcoin is down 22% 1 . Institutional interest cooling : The year 2021 was extremely bullish for institutional crypto investment, but that has not carried through to 2022. Big names such as Tesla, MicroStrategy, El Salvador, and several payment platforms got into crypto, driving the momentum and buying pressure. U.S. regulators even allowed the first Bitcoin futures exchange-traded funds to trade, which was also bullish. However, in 2022, inst...