The Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) price has almost halved since 1 January.
Down another 4.1% over the past 24 hours to US$1,954 (AU$2,793), the world's number two crypto by market cap has lost 48% of its value in 2022.
And crypto investors who bought on 16 November last year, when the Ethereum price was trading at all-time highs of US$4,892, will be sitting on losses of just over 60%.
While it's maintained its number two ranking, Ethereum's market cap has dropped to US$236 billion from well over half a trillion dollars at its peak.
Image source: Getty Images
Why is the Ethereum price falling?
Ethereum, if you're not familiar, is the biggest blockchain network in the world enabling the decentralised execution of smart contracts. And it's this real world applicability that many see as key to its long term value.
Crypto enthusiasts have been keenly awaiting the coming merge, which will see Ethereum shift from a proof-of-work (PoW) to a proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus to verify transactions. This will greatly reduce the blockchain's energy use and reduce costs.
Many analysts also expect the pending switch to PoS to send the Ethereum price higher. While that may still happen, it certainly hasn't yet.
Instead, prices have been falling as cryptos have been moving closely in line with risk assets, like high growth tech shares, this year.
As David Donabedian, chief investment officer of CIBC Private Wealth Management pointed out, "I think it will continue to trade with the equity market and risk assets. That's the big lie that's been exposed, the idea that it's some new asset class that's going to help diversify your portfolio has been blown to smithereens."
As for risk assets, you need to look no further than the performance of the tech-heavy Nasdaq this year.
With investors selling risk assets over concerns about the potential of large, rapid interest rate increases, the Nasdaq has dropped 27.9% year-to-date.
