Bitcoin drops to a new low for 2018 amid market sell-off Share The market cap of all cryptocurrencies fell by 20% this week, shedding nearly $30 billion The price of Bitcoin was down to a yearly low of $3,400
Bitcoin, the digital asset synonymous with cryptocurrency, has hit a yearly low of around $3,400 as of Friday morning, with altcoins following suit.
The price of Bitcoin plummeted nearly 8% to $3,421.87 by the time of publication.
Bitcoin slipped more than 20% this week and nearly 50% this month, according to Cointelegraph’s Bitcoin Price Index.
“Bitcoin is very cheap right now. This should be the bottom of the bear market before the bounce, but it isn’t / won’t be. A lot of people are waking up to the crumbling economy and upcoming recession and are either one, not choosing to enter a highly speculative asset class or two, are pulling their money out of the most volatile markets, crypto included,” said Viktor Bunin, a former token designer at Brooklyn-based blockchain company ConsenSys, in an exclusive interview with Proactive Investors.
Ripple, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, fell about 10% to $0.
30 as of time of publication.
The price of Ripple is down nearly 24% this week and down 40% in monthly losses.
Ethereum, Litecoin, EOS and Stellar were all deep in negative territory, falling by double digits.
The market cap of all cryptocurrencies totaled $107.1 billion as of this morning, a 20% drop from the nearly $136 billion market total at the beginning of the week. Crypto Lawsuit
Cryptocurrencies are notoriously volatile, but that’s not to say there’s no rhyme or reason to the double-digit drops.
Tech development firm UnitedCorp has reportedly filed a lawsuit against Chinese mining computer manufacturer Bitmain, Bitcoin.
com, the Kraken Bitcoin Exchange and early Bitcoin investor Roger Ver over the recent split of Bitcoin Cash. WATCH: Crypto tax-reporting software maker NODE40 buys assets back from HashChain
Bitcoin Cash split off from Bitcoin’s original blockchain in August 2017 in what’s known as a hard fork, or a separation from the Bitcoin protocol.
Bitcoin Cash underwent a hard fork of its own, splitting off into Bitcoin ABC and Bitcoin SV, short for founder Satoshi’s Vision.
Interestingly, Bitcoin SV was an exception to the drop, surging 9% to $102.50.
UnitedCorp is accusing the parties of using unfair methods to manipulate the Bitcoin Cash network to their benefit.
“UnitedCorp believes that the defendants colluded to effectively hijack the Bitcoin Cash network after the November 15, 2018 scheduled software update with the intent of centralizing the network — all in violation of the accepted standards and protocols associated with Bitcoin since its inception,” states the suit filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of Florida. The Bitcoin ETF Dream Dashed
The US Securities and Exchange Commission has once again crushed the dream of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund, which may be a possible explanation for the drop.
The SEC has postponed its decision on an application for a Bitcoin ETF submitted by VanEck and Solid X until February, following a previous postponement.
“Don’t hold your breath. I do caution people to not live or die on when a crypto or Bitcoin ETF gets approved. You all know that I am working on trying to convince my colleagues to have a bit more of an open mind when it comes to [crypto]. I am not as charming as some other people,” said SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce.
The SEC did not give an exact time frame for the potential approval of an ETF, with Peirce saying it could see approval tomorrow or in 10 years.
–Updated to include commentary and recent price movement.
