By
Steve Muchoki
April 19th, 2024
Cryptocurrency market sentiment continues to remain negative as Ether (ETH) and other altcoins enter a downward spiral.
It looks like the cryptocurrency market woes are far from getting over! After a marginal recovery on Monday, September 10, the cryptocurrency market pulls back again. The overall market valuations have dipped to $189 billion triggered by yet another sell-off in the altcoin space.
Bitcoin Price Consolidates Amidst Major Market Fall
However, Bitcoin, which currently dominates over 50% of the crypto market is staying averse to this cryptocurrency market fall. The price of Bitcoin is steadily consolidating between $6300-$6400 levels with decent daily trading volumes of $3.8 billion. After a steep fall from over $7000 levels last week, Bitcoin has continued to maintain and trade within this price range.
As altcoins are continuously on a losing spree, Bitcoin dominance in the crypto market continues to grow simultaneously. Currently, Bitcoin dominates over 57% of the overall market cap, according to the data on CoinMarketCap. At the press time, Bitcoin is trading at a price of $6311 with a total market cap of $108 billion.
Ether Hits a New 2018 Low
Ether (ETH) remains as one of the worst hit cryptocurrencies in this market pall. Still the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether has lost over 8% in last 24 hours to hits its new 2018-low of $177.02. The cryptocurrency’s price has dropped by more than 40% in just last one week’s time.
Analysts say that a huge failure rate of ICOs, built on the Ethereum blockchain, is the reason behind Ether’s fall. Joe DiPasquale, CEO of cryptocurrency fund of hedge funds BitBull Capital said:
“Ether’s price was inflated earlier due to the ICO mania. As people pledged Ether with ICOs, the supply-demand equation got skewed — now ICOs have cooled down, and hence the setback.”
Additionally, Ethereum is facing tough competition from other blockchain projects like Stellar and EOS. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin recently shared his views of essential steps required ahead, to prevent Ethereum’s further downfall.
Altcoins On a Downward Spiral
It is not that only Ethereum-based altcoins continue to lose the steam. Popular altcoins in the top-ten list like Bitcoin Cash, Ripple, Litecoin, have shown consistent loses in this falling cryptocurrency market. Over the last one week, Ripple (XRP) has lost more than 20% of its price. Ripple is currently trading at $0.26 with a market cap of just over $10 billion, according to CoinMarketCap.
Both, Litecoin and Bitcoin Cash have lost nearly 30% over the last week. Litecoin is currently trading at $50 while Bitcoin Cash is trading at $431. This continuos downfall in the price of altcoins has caused more investors to shift their capital to Bitcoin.
Positive News in The Cryptocurrency Market
It is surprising to see that the market has turned a blind-eye to all the positive news over the last few weeks. European Commission vice president Valdis Dombrovskis recently said that digital currencies will continue to co-exist in the global financial system. Dombrovskis also said that a number of the Commission’s members are willing to extend their support to digital currencies. The Commission has started working on regulatory developments in the cryptocurrency space.
Cryptocurrency exchange Gemini, annouced the world’s first regulated stablecoin – Gemini Dollar. The stablecoin has got a license approval from New York Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) who will also monitor its further operations. Additionally, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase is working with asset manager BlackRock for a Bitcoin ETF product.
Wall street banking giant Citigroup plans to launch a low-risk cryptocurrency investment product for institutional investors. The banking giant will bring digital Asset Receipts (DARs) that provides a proxy way for investors to trade digital assets without actually owning them. To be noted, Citigroup has yet to make any official announcement in this regard.