It has been a reasonably mixed 24 hours for cryptocurrency markets. But importantly, prices have begun to steady after some sizeable declines.
At the time of writing the value of the entire cryptocurrency market is US$367.8 billion according to Coin Market Cap.
Here is the state of play on Wednesday morning:
The bitcoin (BTC) price has remained flat over the last 24 hours at US$9,099.29 per coin. This gives BTC a market capitalisation of US$153.9 billion. The world's largest cryptocurrency came under fire overnight from a report by European policymakers. According to CNBC, the report claimed that bitcoin and its peers are rarely used to price goods and are therefore relatively worthless for making payments. Furthermore, as a store of value they have been likened to "gambling in a casino."
The Ethereum (ETH) price is down just over 1% since this time yesterday to US$683.58 per token. ETH has now lost 16% of its value in the space of a week, leaving it with a market capitalisation of US$67.1 billion.
The Ripple (XRP) price is off almost 2% during the last 24 hours to 78.1 U.S. cents, leaving the popular altcoin with a market capitalisation of US$30.5 billion.
The Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price has been the best performing major cryptocurrency during the last 24 hours with a 2% move higher to US$1,060.94 per token. The prospect of being added to the Winklevoss' Gemini Exchange may be the reason behind this gain, which takes its market capitalisation to almost U$18.1 billion.
The Litecoin (LTC) price has been the worst performer amongst the major cryptocurrencies over the last 24 hours with a 2.5% decline to US$174.10. This has reduced Litecoin's market capitalisation to just under US$9.7 billion.
Outside the top five the majority of cryptocurrencies were in the red, with the Cardano (ADA), NEO (NEO), and Stellar Lumens (XLM) prices each down around 3%. NEM (XEM) has been the exception with a massive 16.5% move higher during the period.
NEM has been one of the worst performers of late, losing upwards of half of its value in a matter of weeks. I suspect that bargain hunters may be swooping in today.
