The cryptocurrency meltdown accelerated overnight with heavy declines being seen across the entire top ten coins.
This has reduced the value of the entire market to US$433 billion, which means US$76 billion has been wiped out in the space of just two days. That's almost the equivalent of Westpac Banking Corp (ASX: WBC) gone in 48 hours.
The bitcoin (BTC) price has been the worst performer by value. It is down 5% during the last 24 hours to US$10,135 per coin according to Coin Market Cap. This reduced its market capitalisation by US$8.6 billion to US$171.1 billion.
The Ethereum (ETH) price has fallen around 3.5% since this time yesterday to US$814.67. This has left the world's second-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalisation of US$79.6 billion.
The Ripple (XRP) price has dropped a sizeable 7.5% during this time to 94.3 U.S. cents, reducing its market capitalisation US$36.7 billion.
The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price has been the worst performers by percentage change over the last 24 hours. The bitcoin spin-off is down over 8% to US$1,212 per token, leaving it with a market capitalisation of US$20.6 billion.
Litecoin (LTC) wasn't far behind with a 7.5% decline during the last 24 hours to US$198.22 per coin. The Litecoin market capitalisation has fallen below US$11 billion, having been as high as US$14 billion on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, there have been notable declines for popular altcoins Cardano (ADA), NEO (NEO), and Stellar Lumens (XLM).
What happened?
According to CNBC, experts believe that these declines are the result of profit-taking after a strong rally over the last seven days.
Another potential catalyst was news on Thursday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission had charged former cryptocurrency exchange BitFunder and its founder with fraud. The regulator alleges that BitFunder defrauded users of its exchange.
But whatever the reason is, it seems apparent that sentiment is very negative at the moment. Which could mean further declines lie ahead for cryptocurrencies. Approach with caution.
