Cryptocurrency Market Takes a Tumble as Ripple Bubble Fear Looms

The top 16 cryptocurrencies have all plunged between three and 39 percent today as altcoin bubble fears loom and Bitcoin feels the pinch.

2018 did not begin on a good note for Bitcoin as the monster rally leading to Christmas crashed, but it made a bit of a recovery in and among a boom for a number of altcoins. However, Monday has not been a good day for the entire cryptocurrency market.

Looking down the graphs of the top cryptocurrencies, you’d be hard-pressed to find one in the black as all of the top 10 coins hit a downward trend, led by Ripple which had dropped by almost 28 percent over the last 24 hours.

Red across the board

Coinmarketcap showed some unpleasant numbers for all top 10 coins as Bitcoin was registered as being down 11 percent, Ripple down 28 percent and Bitcoin Cash down 20 percent.

Ripple’s losses were by and far the biggest, especially considering the growth the coin experienced in the past few weeks. Ripple reached $3 a coin a few days ago after it was added to Bloomberg’s price terminal in late December.

South Korea also recently pushed up the altcoin market as the mania strike the Asian country with Ripple’s doubling up attributed to South Korea being taken with the Blockchain-based payment solution for enterprise-level global payment transactions.

A bubble in the Ripple?

The low Ripple numbers may be down to the fact that Coinmarketcap does not including information from some South Korean exchanges, but there are other concerns afoot.

"The reason ripple is surging so much is it's a bubble," said Erik Voorhees, CEO of digital asset exchange ShapeShift and a vocal advocate for Bitcoin as a way to separate money and the state. "Testing crypto with banks doesn't make sense. The whole idea of crypto is you don't need a bank.”

The technology behind Ripple is aimed at large institutions, which has given it an air of legitimacy which in turn has spurred the price and build a hype for investors.

However, cryptocurrency enthusiasts say that centralization is the exact opposite of what the technology of the digital currencies should be about.

Altcoin season

Many saw the recent dip in Bitcoin’s dominance as the reemergence of altcoins, with Ripple, and even other minor coins like Verge stealing the limelight. However, this recent dip seems to suggest that there are still strong ties between many coins to the dominant force that is Bitcoin.

The adage goes that: 'A rising tide lifts all boats,' and the same goes for a falling one. With Bitcoin still being the biggest boat in the bay, it makes sense that should an issue affect it and its price, other coins in the crypto market will also feel the effect.

Famed stock picker Ronnie Moas recently predicted that there would be a reverse on this so-called ‘altcoin season,’ and perhaps, this is it as everyone goes down before the most established digital currency again rises up.