The broader cryptocurrency market experienced a substantial shake-up, witnessing a fresh liquidation totaling $129 million over the past 24 hours. This market turbulence followed reports suggesting that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) is on the verge of filing an antitrust lawsuit against Nvidia, a leading AI chip manufacturer.

According to a Bloomberg report released yesterday, the Justice Department has issued subpoenas to Nvidia and several other companies as part of its ongoing investigation. The focus of this probe is to determine whether Nvidia has breached U.S. antitrust laws by stifling competition in the AI chip market.

The DOJ’s investigation zeroes in on whether Nvidia’s market dominance has created barriers for other competitors in the AI chip industry. Sources close to the matter, including various advocacy groups, allege that Nvidia intimidates customers who opt to use its AI chips alongside those from other manufacturers.

Initially, the Justice Department approached the investigation with relative caution, distributing questionnaires to numerous businesses to gather necessary evidence. However, the situation took a significant turn recently as the DOJ escalated its efforts by issuing subpoenas to Nvidia and other related entities. This move strongly indicates that the Justice Department may be nearing a decision to charge Nvidia with violating federal antitrust regulations.

As a result of this intensifying investigation, both stock and crypto markets saw sharp declines. Bitcoin (BTC), the flagship cryptocurrency, plunged below the $56,000 mark, hitting a low of $55,673 in the early hours of today as per CoinMarketCap data. Despite this drop, BTC quickly rebounded and is currently trading at $56,405, reflecting a 4.39% decline over the past day and a 4.71% decrease over the past week.

Ethereum (ETH), another major cryptocurrency, also suffered in this market downturn. ETH fell below the $2,400 threshold and is currently priced at $2,375, marking a daily decline of 5.4%.

The pronounced drops in BTC and ETH prices triggered widespread liquidations across the crypto market. Noted blockchain journalist Colin Wu reported that within just four hours, $118 million worth of positions were liquidated, with $107 million of that being long positions.

At the time of writing, a total of $129 million has been liquidated over the past day, with long positions accounting for $114.34 million of this sum. Binance experienced the highest amount of liquidations at $65.37 million, followed by OKX with $31.12 million in liquidations.

This development comes on the heels of a report from leading blockchain analytics firm Top 7 ICO, which disclosed that $1.01 billion has been liquidated in the crypto market over the past week alone.

In summary, the crypto market’s recent volatility can be largely attributed to escalating legal pressures facing Nvidia from the DOJ’s antitrust investigation. This situation highlights the interconnected nature of regulatory actions and market reactions in the evolving landscape of cryptocurrencies and technology companies.