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Altcoin-megeddon is upon us, and perhaps no other coin is feeling its wrath more than Ripple’s XRP.
At current prices, XRP is down 93% from its Jan 4th all-time high of $3.73. At that price, Ripple Founder Chris Larsen was worth $55 bln, tying Mark Zuckerberg as the fifth richest man in the world.
It’s officially time to pour one out for the late 2017 purchasers of the token.
At times like these, it’s important to put things in perspective. On Jan 4th, 2017, the price of one XRP was $0.006, or 6/10 of a penny. Quick math – at today’s prices, you are still looking at a 4233% gain. For 18 months, those gains are nothing to sneeze at.
Now for more bad news. This time last year, XRP was $.17. In the coming weeks, It’s entirely possible we see those prices once more. So, strap in – we may be in for a bumpy ride.
total $XRP now worth $380 bn…. makes Ripple labs worth $225bn.. tenth largest company by market cap in the world… makes Chris Larsen worth $55bn tying Mark Zuckerburg as 5th richest man in the world…..
— Michael Novogratz (@novogratz) January 4, 2018
XRP is only one of a large group of prominent cryptocurrencies feeling the burn from the altcoin price drops. Those with more than 9% losses in the last 24-hours include Ethereum, Bitcoin Cash, Monero, EOS, Tron, Cardano, IOTA, NEO, and ZCash.
Surprisingly resilient throughout this massacre is Bitcoin, down only 2.4% in the last 24-hours. BTC dominance over the crypto markets is currently at ~55%, the highest level since December 18, 2017.
What is the root cause of the altcoin price slump? It’s usually a fallacy to pinpoint one specific reason. However, a logical hypothesis stems from ICO’s converting their ETH into fiat to fund development and growth. Over the past year, the majority of token sales were conducted on the Ethereum blockchain, and therefore funds were raised in ETH. This activity has caused ETH to hit 11-month lows, likely injecting panic into the entire cryptocurrency market.
Total market capitalization for cryptocurrencies now sits at around $193 Billion, the lowest level since the beginning of November 2017.
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