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What’s going on with the crypto market? Is it just a bubble waiting to burst or is there something more to it? Let’s take a closer look and see what’s really going on.
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Introduction
It’s no secret that the crypto market has taken a beating over the past year. Prices have plummeted, and investor confidence has been shaken. But what’s really going on behind the scenes? Let’s take a look at some of the forces that are shaping the current state of the crypto market.
Government Regulation
One of the biggest factors affecting the crypto market is government regulation. In many countries, authorities are cracking down on crypto-related activities. This includes everything from banning initial coin offerings (ICOs) to shutting down exchanges. The increased scrutiny from regulators is one of the main reasons why prices have dropped so dramatically in 2018.
market manipulation by Tether
Another factor that has had a negative impact on prices is market manipulation by Tether. Tether is a digital token that is pegged to the US dollar. It’s often used by traders to buy other crypto assets when prices are falling, which artificially props up prices and gives the illusion of stability. However, there are mounting concerns that Tether doesn’t actually have enough dollars in reserve to back all of its tokens in circulation. This has led to fears of a “Tether collapse,” which could cause prices across the entire market to crash.
The ICO Bubble Bursting
The ICO boom of 2017 was one of the main reasons why crypto prices soared to new heights. Initial coin offerings (ICOs) are a way for startups to raise money by selling digital tokens. Investors were eager to get in on the action, pouring billions of dollars into ICOs in hopes of making a quick profit. However, many of these projects turned out to be scams, and others failed to live up to their hype. As a result, investors have become much more cautious about investing in ICOs, which has contributed to the current market downturn.
What’s Next for Crypto?
There’s no denying that 2018 has been a tough year for crypto investors. But it’s important to remember that this is still a young industry, and it will take time for it to mature. In the meantime, we can expect continued volatility as government regulation, tether concerns, and other factors continue to weigh on prices.
Market Overview
The crypto market has taken a beating over the past few months, with prices falling across the board. However, there are a few bright spots in the market, with a few coins and tokens seeing strong gains. In this article, we’ll take a look at the current state of the crypto market and what’s driving the prices of various assets.
Bitcoin
Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency, a form of electronic cash. It is a decentralized digital currency without a central bank or single administrator that can be sent from user-to-user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries. Transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain.
Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.[14] Research produced by the University of Cambridge estimates that in 2017, there were 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.
Ethereum
Ethereum is a decentralized platform that runs smart contracts: applications that run exactly as programmed without any possibility of fraud or third party interference. These apps run on a custom built blockchain, an enormously powerful shared global infrastructure that can move value around and represent the ownership of property. This enables developers to create markets, store registries of debts or promises, move funds in accordance with instructions given long in the past (like a will or a futures contract) and many other things that have not been invented yet, all without a middleman or counterparty risk.
The project was bootstrapped via an ether presale in August 2014 by fans all around the world. It is developed by the Ethereum Foundation, a Swiss non-profit, with contributions from great minds across the globe.
Litecoin
Litecoin (LTC) is currently the fifth largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, with a market cap of over $11 billion. Litecoin was created in 2011 as a fork of the Bitcoin blockchain, and is often referred to as “the silver to Bitcoin’s gold.” Whereas Bitcoin has a limited supply of 21 million coins, Litecoin has a supply of 84 million coins.
Litecoin has historically been very popular among cryptocurrency investors and traders, due in large part to its similarity to Bitcoin. However, in recent months Litecoin has seen its price surge to new all-time highs, as investors have become more bullish on cryptocurrencies in general.
Currently, Litecoin is trading at around $340 per coin, up over 5,000% from its price of $6 per coin at the beginning of 2017. If you are thinking about investing in Litecoin, or any other cryptocurrency, it is important to do your own research before making any decisions.
Bitcoin Cash
On August 1st, a group of influential miners, developers, investors, and users decided to split off from Bitcoin and create a new currency called Bitcoin Cash. This caused quite a stir in the crypto community, with some people proclaiming it to be the “true” Bitcoin and others calling it a dangerous “fork.”
In the months since the split, Bitcoin Cash has been steadily gaining ground on its older brother. At first, it was only available on a few exchanges, but now it can be bought and sold on most major exchanges, including Coinbase.
Bitcoin Cash has also been gaining Acceptance by merchants. In September, payment processor BitPay announced that it would start accepting Bitcoin Cash as a payment method. And recently, Overstock.com announced that it would start accepting Bitcoin Cash as well.
What’s next for Bitcoin Cash? Only time will tell. But one things for sure: the cryptocurrency market is never boring!
Ripple
Ripple is a digital payment network for financial institutions that allows for fast, secure, and low-cost international payments. The native currency of the Ripple network is XRP, which is used to facilitate payments on the network.
Ripple was founded in 2012 by Jed McCaleb and Chris Larsen, and the company is based in San Francisco. Ripple has partnerships with major banks and financial institutions around the world, including American Express, Santander, UBS, and RBC.
XRP is the third largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, after Bitcoin and Ethereum. As of January 2018, XRP had a market cap of $77 billion and a per coin value of $3.65.
Market Analysis
Market Cap
The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies.
24-Hour Trade Volume
The total 24-hour trade volume of all cryptocurrency markets (excluding Tether) increased by over $9 billion in a 24-hour period, setting a new all-time high. This surge in trade volume was largely driven by activity in the Bitcoin and Ethereum markets, which accounted for $6.6 billion and $2.4 billion of the total, respectively. The total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies also reached a new all-time high of over $1.4 trillion during this time period.
7-Day Price Chart
The 7-day price chart shows you the current price of Bitcoin in US dollars (BTC/USD). You can also see how the price has varied over a period of time. The green line shows the price over the last 24 hours, while the blue line shows the price over the last 7 days.
Conclusion
The bottom line is that the crypto market is still in its early stages, and it is hard to predict where it will go next. However, it is clear that there is a lot of potential for growth in this market, and that there are many opportunities for investors to make a profit. So, if you are interested in investing in cryptocurrencies, you should do your own research and decide if this is a good option for you.
