After the massive crash of Bitcoin and Ethereum, the market bloodbath has extended to the altcoin markets. Top altcoins like Binance Coin, Cardano, XRP, and others all moved lower in double-digits.
Altcoins which still maintained gains after Bitcoin started its downward rush recently, all dived in the last few hours to several month lows. XRP, for instance, which spiked above $1.8 recently went below the $1 mark, but recovered a bit after that still with a 24-hour loss of around 25 percent, as of press time.
Meme coins like Dogecoin and Shiba INU are also facing market wrath as both these coins went down by more than 21 percent and 32 percent, respectively in a day-chart.
Though factors like Elon Musk’s U-turn from Bitcoin rocked the market initially, the recent altcoin sell-off was mostly triggered by the latest reiteration of the Chinese ban on cryptocurrencies.
“Virtual currency’s prices have soared and plummeted recently, resulting [in] a rebound of speculative trading activities of virtual currency,” a joint note issued by the China Internet Finance Association, China Banking Association, and China Payment and Clearing Association stated. “It has seriously damaged the safety of the people’s investment and damaged the normal economic and financial orders.”
The three associations confirmed the government ban implemented in 2013 and 2017 that prevent any financial and payment institutions from offering services linked with crypto transactions.
The cryptocurrency market, however, is not an alien to crashes. Though individual coins like XRP went as low as $0.18 after the US financial market regulator moved to the court against it, the collective market also followed a downward trend several times in the past few years.
“Critics who celebrate what they perceive as a meltdown in crypto exhibit the very worst characteristics –coupled with schadenfreude — towards a technology that is elegant in its brilliance. Those who don’t and refuse to get it will be proved wrong,” said Paolo Ardoino, CTO at Bitfinex.
