Bitcoin's plunge under US$9,000 may grab all the headlines, but the secondary cryptocurrency market has also had a terrible day.
Most readers are probably aware of Ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP), Bitcoin Cash (BCH) and Cardano (ADA). Each of these coins has a market capitalisation of above US$10 billion.
However, there's also a world of smaller cryptocurrencies out there that have been hurt even more than Bitcoin over the past 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap.
Steller (XLM) has fallen by almost 14% to US$0.452, which leaves its market cap at US$8.3 billion.
NEO (NEO) has fallen by 14% to US$123.18, reducing its market cap to US$8 billion.
Litecoin (LTC) has fallen by 13.08% to US$140.27, which takes its market cap down to US$7.7 billion.
EOS (EOS) has dropped by 10.35% to US$10.31, which leaves the market cap sitting at US$6.6 billion.
NEM (XEM) has declined by 16.72% to US$0.63, this means the market cap has been reduced to US$5.7 billion.
This rounds out the top 10 cryptocurrencies, but there are many, many more out there. In-fact, according to CoinMarketCap's list there are over 1,500 cryptocurrencies.
Does any of this matter? Well, I think it's interesting following what the cryptocurrency world does. It could be the birth of a new global currency that we'll all use some day, or perhaps not. Either way, it is fascinating to watch. This period will be taught in economic classes at some point in the future.
The altcoins are just as at risk, if not more so, from large organisations taking a swing at the cryptocurrency world. The Chinese, South Korean and Indian governments have all made noises and actions about getting rid of cryptocurrency exchanges. Facebook won't allow advertising of cryptocurrencies on its website any more. The Australian government are looking at taxing cryptocurrencies, according to sources in the media.
I think this whole cryptocurrency story is a wonderful example of how the entire world can get swept up into a mania for something that has no invest-able qualities. Revenue, cash flows and profit are key for anything to make investing sense.
