Bitcoin slumped more than 37 per cent last month, its biggest one-month drop since 2011, but Ethereum was pummelled even harder, with its token Ether falling 45 per cent.

Bitcoin was today trading at $US19,111, its lowest price point since 2020 and down from a near $70,000 all-time high just 10 short months ago.

At $1053, Ethereum has also dropped off a cliff since dizzying highs in July last year.

The question is where cryptocurrencies go from here?

Over the last decade, two prolonged crypto downturns saw Bitcoin lose more than 80 per cent of its value.

But the coin showed resilience to bounce back and then some.

However, with US stocks plunged into a bear market at the end of June, these are different and uncertain times.

A bloody month in June has rocked a theory that cryptocurrencies are a solid hedge against the stock market and inflation.

Once valued at nearly $100 billion, crypto exchange Coinbase abruptly shifted course after it initially planned to hire 2000 more employees this year.

Instead, the company suddenly imposed a hiring freeze and laid off 18 per cent of its staff.

"We appear to be entering a recession after a 10-plus year economic boom," Coinbase boss Brian Armstrong wrote in a company-wide email.

"A recession could lead to another crypto winter, and could last for an extended period."

Coinbase's reversal mirrors a broader trend in the crypto sector.

Singapore-based exchange Crypto.com has laid off about 260 workers, while two other serious players in the crypto space, Gemini Exchange and BlockFi, have also announced major staff cuts.

But some in the industry are stressing that crypto always bounces back, and it's just a matter of holding on through the tough times.

"Constraint is the mother of innovation and difficult times are a forcing function for focus," Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the founders of Gemini, wrote to staffers.

"The crypto revolution is well underway and its impact will continue to be profound. But its trajectory has been anything but gradual or predictable."