Contents
Let’s take a look at some of the possible reasons behind the current crypto market crash.
Checkout this video:
The current state of the market
As of right now, the market is down. This is due to a variety of reasons, but the main one seems to be that the market is oversold. When the market is oversold, it means that there are more sellers than buyers, which drives the price down.
Bitcoin is down 3%
Bitcoin is down 3% today, after a weekend of stability. The dip comes as the stock market also opens down, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling more than 400 points.
Cryptocurrencies have been highly volatile recently, with bitcoin and Ethereum both seeing major price swings. However, this volatility may be starting to calm down, as the prices of both bitcoin and Ethereum have been relatively stable over the past few days.
Ethereum is down 5%
Ethereum is currently down 5% on the day, trading at around $173 at the time of writing. The second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization has now lost over 20% since mid-July and is down almost 90% from its all-time high of over $1,400 set in January 2018.
So, what’s behind Ethereum’s recent price movements?
One reason for Ethereum’s recent price decline could be the sell-off in Bitcoin. As the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Bitcoin typically leads the crypto market and sets the tone for other digital assets.
When Bitcoin falls, altcoins usually follow suit. This appears to be the case with Ethereum over the past few days as BTC has dropped around 5% while ETH has declined by a slightly larger margin.
Another potential reason for Ethereum’s recent price drop is whale selling pressure.
Wallet monitoring service Whale Alert has tracked two large ETH transfers over the past 24 hours, totaling around 100,000 ETH. The first transfer saw 60,000 ETH (worth $10 million at current prices) sent from an unknown wallet to an exchange while the second saw 40,000 ETH ($6.9 million) moved from another unknown wallet to an exchange as well.
It’s possible that these large ETH transfers represent whales offloading their holdings onto exchanges in anticipation of further price declines. If this is the case, then more selling pressure could be incoming which could further push ETH prices lower in the near-term.
XRP is down 7%
XRP is down 7% today as the cryptocurrency market sell-off continues.
The market Drop comes as a surprise to many as XRP had been one of the few cryptos to hold its value during the last few weeks of bearishness. However, it seems that even the so-called “immune” cryptocurrencies are not safe from market uncertainty.
With Bitcoin down 3%, Ethereum down 5%, and Litecoin down 6%, it’s clear that the entire market is feeling the effects of today’s negativity. Other major coins such as EOS, Cardano, and TRON are also all in the red.
There is no clear reason for today’s crypto sell-off, though it could be attributable to a number of factors such as overall market uncertainty, negative regulatory news, or simply profit-taking by investors. Whatever the reason, it’s important to remember that cryptocurrency prices are highly volatile and can drop suddenly at any time.
The possible reasons for the market crash
The cryptocurrency market has seen a lot of volatility in the past few days, with prices crashing across the board. While the exact reasons for the crash are not clear, there are a few possible explanations. Let’s take a look at some of the most likely reasons for the crypto market crash.
The Chinese government is cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges
Over the past few weeks, the Chinese government has been cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges. This has led to a lot of uncertainty and speculation in the market, which could be one of the reasons for the recent market crash.
The Chinese government has been cracking down on cryptocurrency exchanges for a variety of reasons. First, they are concerned about money laundering and other financial crimes that might be facilitated by these exchanges. Second, they are worried about the speculative bubble that has formed around cryptocurrencies, and they want to prevent their citizens from losing money in a potential bust.
It’s unclear how long this crackdown will last, or what the ultimate impact will be on the cryptocurrency market. However, it’s definitely causing a lot of uncertainty and speculation in the short term, which could be contributing to the recent market crash.
The South Korean government is cracking down on cryptocurrency trading
The South Korean government is cracking down on cryptocurrency trading, which could be one of the reasons for the market crash.
In a statement released on Thursday, the government said it would ban anonymous trading of virtual currencies and would also prevent minors and foreigners from opening accounts on South Korean exchanges.
The move comes as global regulators have been increasing their scrutiny of the cryptocurrency sector, with some members of the G20 group of nations calling for stricter regulation.
While South Korea is not a member of the G20, it is one of the world’s biggest markets for cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin was trading at around $12,000 on Thursday, down from a high of nearly $20,000 in December.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission is scrutinizing cryptocurrency ICOs
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is scrutinizing cryptocurrency ICOs. The SEC is investigating whether some ICOs should have been registered as securities offerings, and whether the companies complied with disclosure rules when they sold digital tokens to investors.
The SEC’s investigation could lead to civil penalties or regulatory action against the companies involved. It’s also possible that the SEC will decide that some ICOs were not securities offerings, and will take no action against the companies involved.
The SEC’s scrutiny of ICOs is one of several factors that may be contributing to the current market downturn. Other possible reasons for the market crash include:
– worries about regulation
– concerns about the viability of some projects
– profit taking by early investors
The ramifications of the market crash
It’s been a tough day for crypto. The market has tanked and all of your favorite coins are in the red. But why is this happening? Let’s take a look at some of the possible reasons for the market crash.
Bitcoin miners are shutting down
The crypto market is in the midst of a massive sell-off, with Bitcoin (BTC) prices plunging over 20% in the last 24 hours. The sell-off has been led by BTC, which is down over $3,000 since its highs just yesterday. Ethereum (ETH) and XRP have also seen double-digit percentage losses in the last day.
The reason for the sell-off appears to be a combination of two factors: a sudden surge in Bitcoin mining difficulty and a report from Bloomberg that large institutional investors are scaling back their cryptocurrency allocations.
Let’s start with mining difficulty. Every two weeks, Bitcoin’s network adjusts the difficulty of the mining puzzle to ensure that new blocks are produced every 10 minutes on average. If more miners enter the market (as has been the case lately), the difficulty will increase to make sure that blocks aren’t produced too quickly.
The problem is that this process can cause wild swings in mining profitability. When mining difficulty goes up, it becomes less profitable to mine Bitcoin, and when it goes down, it becomes more profitable. This then leads to a self-reinforcing feedback loop: when profitability falls, miners shut down their machines, which then causes difficulty to fall and profitability to rise again. This dynamic was on full display over the last day as bitcoin’s hashrate—a measure of total computing power devoted to mining— plunged by over 15% overnight.
Ethereum developers are quitting
The price of Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency by market value, fell to a fresh 2018 low on Thursday, extending a losing streak that began in early May.
At press time, ETH was trading around $340, down nearly 13 percent from its daily open of $388.90, according to CoinMarketCap. The sell-off caused ETH’s market capitalization to drop below $33 billion for the first time since Nov. 15, 2017.
The sharp sell-off appears to have been triggered by a mass exodus of Ethereum developers, who are quitting the project in droves due to a lack of funding.
In the past month, at least three major Ethereum development teams have shut down or laid off staff due to a lack of funds. The teams were working on projects that were intended to improve the Ethereum network’s scalability and usability.
The most recent casualty is Parity Technologies, which announced on Tuesday that it was laying off 30 percent of its staff due to the “significant decrease in [the] price of ETH.” Parity is best known for developing the Parity Wallet, one of the most popular Ethereum wallets.
Parity is just the latest in a string of Ethereum development teams that have been forced to downsize or shut down entirely due to a lack of funding. In May, MetaMask, an Ethereum wallet extension for Google Chrome, announced it was laying off staff due to “the current slump in [the] cryptocurrency economy.”
And in April, popular Ethereum blockchain explorer EthExe announced it was shutting down due to “insufficient funding.” The team had been working on an alternative blockchain explorer called EtherScan 2.0.
XRP investors are selling off
Since mid-November, XRP investors have been selling off their holdings and moving into other digital assets as the cryptocurrency’s price has continued to drop. This trend accelerated in mid-December, when the price of XRP fell below $0.30 for the first time in nearly two years.
As of this writing, the price of XRP is down to $0.28, its lowest level in over two years. This sell-off has been driven by a number of factors, including:
-The expiration of XRP’s lockup period: On December 15th, 2017, Ripple released one billion XRP from escrow, which it then sold on the open market. This event was widely anticipated by investors, who began selling their XRP holdings in advance in order to avoid being caught holding a bag when the price crashed.
-TheSEC’s crackdown on ICOs: The US Securities and Exchange Commission has been cracking down on initial coin offerings (ICOs), which have been a major source of funding for Ripple’s ecosystem. In November, the SEC shut down an ICO that had raised $14 million from investors, and it is expected that more crackdowns will follow. This has made investors nervous about investing in any crypto assets, including XRP.
-The general bearishness of the crypto market: The overall crypto market has been in a downtrend since January 2018, and this has also contributed to the sell-off in XRP.
