It seems cryptocurrency speculators can't catch a break this week as the free-fall in cryptocurrency prices has continued into Wednesday afternoon AEST.
Let's take a look at the scoreboard damage for some of the world's leading cryptocurrencies. All stats courtesy of financial news wire Investing.com and accurate as at 14.20pm November 21, 2018.
- The Bitcoin price is down 9.3% in 24 hours to US$4,504
- The Ripple price is down 14% in 24 hours to US$0.4354
- The Ethereum price is down 13% in 24 hours to US$133.27
- The Bitcoin Cash price is down 55% in 24 hours to US$321.41
- The Stellar Lumens price is down 25% in 24 hours to US$0.193
- The Litecoin price is down 34% in 24 hours to US$31.16
- The EOS price is down 29% in 24 hours to US$3.74
- The Cardano price is down 39% in 24 hours to US$0.0449
All of the above crypto price falls are symptoms of a terrible affliction to recently hit the digital currency space, but unfortunately no one is able to accurately diagnose the illness.
Various news reports and "crypto experts" are blaming the falls on a fallout over how Bitcoin Cash should be forked (split into a further currency or more) with the consequences of the disunity sending Bitcoin Cash prices hurtling lower. This is because speculators lost confidence in the credibility of Bitcoin Cash and its reported spin-offs.
Bitcoin Cash itself came about as a result of a fork (split) from Bitcoin itself in August 2017 and it seems the infighting over Bitcoin Cash's forking amongst rival groups is hurting confidence in the whole credibility Bitcoin and the crypto space.
Bitcoin for example has been sold to many buyers as an incorruptible and finite digital currency immune to real world currency risks such as inflation or quantitative easing via the issue of new money.
However, it seems some are viewing the forks in the digital currencies as a kind of quasi-quantitative easing that breaks one of the supposedly inviolable principles of crypto investing.
The large falls in stock markets are also adding to the pressure on crypto prices with blue chips stocks like Telstra Corporation Ltd (ASX; TLS) or Suncorp Group Ltd (ASX: SUN) falling heavily themselves over the past month.
