SHIBA Inu has plunged 18 per cent in the last 24 hours and 26 per cent in the last seven days, reaching levels not seen since October 2021.
Shiba Inu is now the 16th most-valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, valued at 8.5 billion.
SHIB’s price drop comes despite the community’s recent efforts to keep the cryptocurrency more scarce.
Two weeks ago, Shiba Inu developers launched a new burning mechanism which was designed to decrease the token’s circulating supply.
In return for burning their SHIB, holders were rewarded with yield-generating tokens.
Since the launch, the community have ‘burnt’ more than 26 billion SHIB from the coin’s initial supply, worth just under $500,000 at current prices.
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In the wider market, four days of tumbling prices has seen Bitcoin fall to its lowest level since July 2021, down more than 50 per cent from its all-time price high.
Ethereum (ETH) mirrored Bitcoin’s demise, down 21 per cent in the last seven days.
Rising interest rates, brought in to help combat the soaring global inflation, are partly to blame for the crypto markets struggles.
Investors appear to be moving away from cryptocurrency and looking at safer investments in the face of uncertainty.
Darshan Bathija, chief executive of Singapore-based crypto exchange Vauld, said: “In light of fears of rising inflation, most investors have taken a risk-off approach – selling stocks and cryptos alike in order to cut down risk.
“In light of fears of rising inflation, most investors have taken a risk-off approach – selling stocks and cryptos alike in order to cut down risk.”
Simon Peters, crypto market analyst at the online trading platform eToro, said: “The concern now for crypto asset investors is when the slide will end.
“The market is caught in the wider adversity of investment markets that are battling to decide where confortable levels are in the wake of interest rate hikes designed to quell soaring inflation around the Western world.”