Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Lido Finance plummet on eve of merger as investors prepare for Ethereum’s biggest upgrade.

Crypto-currencies linked to the merger, including Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Lido Finance, have seen significant losses in the past 24 hours.

Ethereum has fallen 8.82% in the past 24 hours and is trading around $1,515 after bouncing off its support at $1,500 earlier today. Ethereum is now down 68.95% from its all-time highs of $4,891.70 recorded in November 2021, according to data from coingecko.

Ethereum Classic, a hard fork of Ethereum executed following the DAO hack in 2016, has also fallen 15.12% in the past 24 hours and is the top loser among the top 20 cryptocurrencies by market cap.

As of this writing, ETC, the 19th largest crypto-currency with a market cap of $4.66 billion, is changing hands at $34 apiece, according to data from Coingecko. The day’s losses sent ETC down 80.60 percent from its all-time highs of $176.16 recorded in May 2021.

Lido Finance’s native token, LDO, fell 16.71% earlier this morning, according to coingecko data.

LDO is changing hands at about $1.83, down 90.10% from its all-time highs of $18.62 recorded in November 2021.

Ethereum short and long positions totaling $107.76 million have been liquidated in the past 24 hours, according to data from Coinglass. Ethereum Classic follows Ethereum with $38.69 million liquidated in the same period.

Bitcoin, the leading crypto-currency, also lost 5.98 percent in the past 24 hours, hitting a new two-month low.

The overall market cap also fell back below $1 trillion, tumbling 5.72 percent in the past 24 hours, according to data from Coingecko.

Ethereum’s meltdown hype fades

The main reason for the drop in tokens could be due to waning enthusiasm for the Ethereum upgrade, as well as the strengthening of the dollar alongside the Fed’s aggressive rate hikes.

With the merger expected next week, the future after the event has caused some concern among investors, which could fuel today’s sell-off.

Despite all the bullishness, the last high for $ETH was a month ago. Did “sell the event” happen already? https://t.co/a8B2VqFVd9

– Web3Quant (@Web3Quant) September 7, 2022

Investors have also expressed concerns about the potential centralization of Ethereum after the merger.

The fact that it’s backed by $ makes it a safe choice for every investor but on the contrary there are concerns about centralization and control (BlackRock will serve as a strategic partner in Circle)@jazzveleG @parisis2019

– Iasonas Apostolakis (@IasonApostol) September 7, 2022

“Lido’s dominance in the liquid staking market (&the broader market where it has a 31% market share) has raised concerns about centralizing“, tweeted one user Twitter user.

With the Fed meeting later this month, a 50 basis point hike can’t be ruled out either, as Reuters reports. The U.S. Fed’s aggressive monetary policy to combat four decades of high inflation has also led investors to shy away from high-risk assets.

Major stock indexes, including the Nasdaq Composite (IXIC) and the S&P 500, have lost more than 9% and 6%, respectively, over the past month.