The market capitalization of crypto assets has collapsed again today. Within hours, the market has shrunk by about $ 14 billion. Within the past five days, the market capitalization of exchange-traded crypto currencies has dropped to around $ 40 billion - a whopping 20 percent from around $ 211 billion to just $ 171 billion.
Ethereum behind XRP
Bitcoin (BTC) has fallen below the $ 100 billion mark for the first time since October 2017. Currently, a BTC is only worth a little more than $ 5,300, well below the level of a year ago. Also Ethereum, the previous number 2 on the market, has had to leave neat feathers. An ETH is currently traded at only around $ 160, which is less than half the value than a year ago. Recently, the news that Ethereum co-founder and head Vitalik Buterin wants to withdraw from the operational development of Ethereum, caused for uncertainty.
The further price decline, preceded by a crash last week (Trending Topics reported), has not only dropped the overall market to its lowest level of the year, it has also upset the ranking of traded crypto assets. Ripple's XRP is now relatively stable in second place on the market, but has already fallen below the 0.5 Doller per XRP token. Despite massive losses, XRP attracted attention this year as ripple announced new products (xRapid), new customers and new locations.
Uncertainty through Bitcoin Cash
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)'s Hard Fork market has also been unsettled: After the blockchain split last week, two parties (BitcoinABC and BitcoinSV) are still fighting for BCH's technological successor. At the moment it looks like BitcoinABC is making the race. Ultimately, the market and the exchanges will decide which version will prevail.
The uncertainty among investors is also reflected in the high demand for the Stablecoins Tether (USDT) and TrueUSD (TUSD). These assets tied to the dollar rate are often used by traders as a siding for assets when prices fluctuate widely. So you do not have to switch back to Fiat (for example, Dollars, Euros) and can react quickly when it comes up again. In addition, traders have not gotten what many were looking forward to: the introduction of exchange-traded index funds (ETFs) is still pending. Meanwhile, Bitcoin futures (futures that bet on the growth or fall of prices) cause additional unrest.