Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning:

Market Moves: Bitcoin Drops 5%, Slipping Below $50K on Leverage Washouts

Check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today's show will feature guests:

Jack Mallers, Strike CEO
Ivan Soto-Wright, co-founder & CEO, MoonPay
Kalin Metodiev, co-founder, Nexo
David Morris, chief insights columnist, CoinDesk

– Brad

Bitcoin was the big loser in cryptocurrency markets on Wednesday, down 5% on the day as investors weighed concerns about the Covid-19 omicron variant.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading above $51,000 on Tuesday and began to drop below the $50,000 mark at around 10:30 a.m. coordinated universal time (UTC). As of press time bitcoin (BTC) was changing hands around $49,645.

Ether (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down 3% in the last 24 hours.

European stock markets wavered after witnessing a sharp rise on Tuesday as investors grew more cautiously optimistic after studies showed vaccines provide partial shield against the omicron variant.

Polygon’s MATIC token was up 6% in the last 24 hours, Chainlink (LINK) by 9.6% and Uniswap (UNI) by 2.5%, according to data from Messari.

Bitcoin price chart over past 24 hours shows drop below $50,000. (CoinDesk)

Laurent Kssis, a crypto exchange-traded fund (ETF) expert and director of CEC Capital, a crypto trading advisory firm, said that both bitcoin and ether remain vulnerable to price pullbacks, fueled by leverage washouts. According to the data site Coinglass, some $187 million of crypto trading positions were liquidated over the past 24 hours.

“This is skewed to long liquidations, which will inevitably put downward pressure on BTC,” said Kssis.

Also read:

Bitcoin Drops 5%, Slipping Below $50K on Leverage Washouts

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These are the biggest movers in the CoinDesk 20 over the past 24 hours:

Top Gainers:

EOS (EOS): +13%
Chainlink (LINK): +12%
Polygon (MATIC): +3.8%

Top Losers:

Polkadot (DOT): -4.4%
Algorand (ALGO): -3.6%
Solana (SOL): -2.3%

The CoinDesk 20 are 20 digital assets filtered from the larger universe of thousands of cryptocurrencies and constitute roughly 99% of the market by volume at eight of the largest and most trustworthy exchanges.

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In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:

Bitcoin Outlook as Price Breaks $50K, CoinDesk’s ‘Most Influential 2021’ Winners Announced

Announcing CoinDesk's "Most Influential 2021" winners! Most Influential is an annual list of people who defined the year in crypto. Managing Editor Ben Schiller reveals who the top winners are and why they made the list. Also joining are Huobi Brokerage Director Victor Wei with markets analysis and Michael Bouhanna of Sotheby's discusses art in the metaverse.

Crypto Fans Rejoice, Gamers Revolt as Ubisoft Announces NFT Plans
The first major game maker to roll out in-game NFTs was met with backlash Tuesday from a crypto-wary public.
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Australia Set For Massive Shakeup to Crypto Regulations: Treasurer
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Crypto Hedge Fund Three Arrows Capital Snaps Up $400M in ETH
The move comes mere weeks after co-founder Su Zhu “abandoned” Ethereum over its prohibitively high fees for new users.
Polygon’s $MATIC Token Up 40% Amid Crypto Rebound
Speculation mounts over Polygon’s foray into zero-knowledge proofs.
Silvergate Bank Looks to Raise $461M in Public Stock Offering
Silvergate intends to use the net proceeds to supplement its regulatory capital levels and support its growth through strategic acquisitions and other initiatives.
Foundry Launches Resale Marketplace for Bitcoin Mining Machines
Its new business, FoundryX, has already secured more than 40,000 miners that are ready for resale from now through 2022.
Index Coop Isn’t Worried About Enso’s ‘Vampire Attack’
The crypto index-fund builder raised another $2.25 million from big-name backers even before a competing protocol struck.

Disclaimer: The information presented in this message is intended as a news item that provides a brief summary of various events and developments that affect, or that might in the future affect, the value of one or more of the cryptocurrencies described above. The information contained in this message, and any information liked through the items contained herein, is not intended to provide sufficient information to form the basis for an investment decision. The information presented herein is accurate only as of its date, and it was not prepared by a research analyst or other investment professional. You should seek additional information regarding the merits and risks of investing in any cryptocurrency before deciding to purchase or sell any such instruments.