[Bitcoin (BTC) was the hardest hit, falling 23% from $39,299 to $30,415 in just 65 minutes on Wednesday morning. When Bitcoin leads, other cryptocurrencies tend to follow, and at one point nearly $1 trillion was wiped out of the entire crypto sector, turning the entire market into a bloodbath.

Ethereum (ETH), the second most valuable cryptocurrency by market cap, fell from $2,769 to $2,051 during the same period, and other top coins including Binance Coin (BNB), Doji Coin (DOGE), and Cardano (ADA) experienced significant price drops as well

In fact, Dogecoin (a popular memecoin that has surged in value so far in 2021) experienced a bigger drop than other coins, plunging from $0.38 to $0.25 per coin this morning alone, losing about a third of its value.

In the chaos, popular exchanges including Coinbase and Binance were down from overwhelming demand, leaving users unable to access their funds or "buy the dip," as some crypto enthusiasts often do. Ethereum gas fees, or transaction fees, jumped as investors turned instead to decentralized exchanges like Uniswap.

Fortunately for investors, the market plunge proved to be temporary, and crypto prices regained some of the ground lost earlier today; according to CoinGecko, the price of bitcoin now sits just above $38,000, down just 10% in the past 24 hours This means that it has fallen just 10% in the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, Ethereum is hovering above $2,600 after briefly crossing $3,000, but is down 21.9% since yesterday.

One of the factors behind the plunge is believed to be the Chinese government's decision to ban financial institutions from offering cryptocurrency-related services. It also warned investors against speculative crypto trading.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk was widely viewed as the main cause of the sharp drop in bitcoin prices last week because of Tesla's willingness to accept BTC, but may have actually contributed to the stability of the market today.

His tweet stating that "Tesla has diamond hands" (using an emoji) referenced the crypto meme of holding coins tight amid market volatility, prompting the return of bitcoin and other cryptocurrency values after the morning's crash.

Musk's tweets often correlate directly to the value of cryptocurrencies, as we have seen in the past with both Dogecoin and Bitcoin. For example, when he shared the news in January that Tesla had purchased 1.5 billion BTC and would accept Bitcoin for car payments, or when he shared the Dogecoin meme.

However, last week's news that Tesla had stopped accepting BTC because of its environmental impact, and other similar tweets since then, have clearly caused a significant drain on the value of the top crypto coin over the past week. In fact, a protest coin called StopElon appeared in response to Musk's so-called "betrayal."

Cryptocurrency prices are notoriously volatile. While 2021 to date has seen many of the top coins make big gains, including record highs, today was a reminder that bull markets are often followed by big adjustments. Fortunately, some of this morning's losses have been reversed, but investors should keep a close eye on the market for possible aftershocks.