Down We Go: $38 Billion Evaporated as Bitcoin, Altcoins Net Double Digit Losses

For those calling for the end of the bear cycle- hold tight a little longer. Following the extended sideways market movements, a price explosion was imminent. Unfortunately, this action took place in favor of sellers, as Bitcoin continues to tumble over the course of the past 24 hours. Altcoins have similarly followed suit.

Last night, Bitcoin’s channel between US$7,500 and $7,700 broke, as the king of cryptocurrency saw a steep decline of $300 down to the $7,300 mark. After a gradual decline to $7,200 overnight, a second sell off has just been encountered. Within the past two hours, BTC saw an even larger, $400 drop, knocking the coin down to US$6,850.

Unfortunately, this dump has not been mitigated by altcoins. In fact, alts across the board are faring even worse than Bitcoin. Of the top 100 cryptos listed on Coinmarketcap, just 15 have seen gains against BTC in the same time frame as the dump. Excluding Tether, which remains pegged to US$1.00, Monacoin is performing the best with losses of about 7.5%. On the flip side, four coins have seen losses of double or more than Bitcoin, with 24 hour movements greater than 20% in the red. These coins are CyberMiles, IOST, MaidSafeCoin, and WaykiChain. WaykiChain is the biggest loser, seeing losses of more than 25% since yesterday.

The global market cap of altcoins entered the day with a valuation of US$210 billion. The more than 11% loss across altcoins translates to a market cap shrinkage of $24 billion, down to $186 billion. In addition to Bitcoin’s loss in market cap of US$14 billion, the total loss taken in by holders globally equates to a whopping US$38 billion.

Skeptics suggest that recent SEC and CFTC hearings may have incited insecurity among investors and speculators. The nature of the meetings of the last few days have been overwhelmingly positive, best highlighted by CFTC Commissioner’s statements, “We are witnessing a technological revolution.  Perhaps we are witnessing a modern miracle.”

However, what many took away from the gatherings were the SEC’s insistence on the regulation of ICOs that qualify as securities (according to the SEC, many of them do). SEC compliance constitutes a number of stipulations, including a yearly $1 million registration fee. As such, ICOs by and large have elected to instead bar US citizens from participation, rather than hamstring themselves into SEC compliance.

Regardless, this may not completely explain the price movements. The declarations by the SEC were merely a reiteration of their previously announced stance on the ICO model, and were to be expected by those following the environment. Perhaps the reiteration simply caused a bit of panic among holders.

Either way, volume continues to climb from last week’s lows, despite the decline in price. Global volume has eclipsed US$15 billion, and continues to rise. Price and volume movements match very closely to what was seen in the middle of March. During that time, a sharp decline was immediately followed by a jump in the price of Bitcoin by more than US$1,500, where it settled above the $9,000 mark. A similar action would undo the losses experienced in the past weeks completely.