The downfall in Bitcoin prices continued on Monday with the price of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency touching a new low. The price of Bitcoin at the US market on Monday crashed below $5000 for the first time since October 2017. Bitcoin’s price witnessed a healthy depreciation of 14% to finish the day at 4,586.94.
Monday’s slide was the eight consecutive fall for Bitcoin, with many experts calling this to be the longest string of losses for the world’s most renowned cryptocurrency till date. However, Bitcoin is not the only cryptocurrency that is facing the investor’s wrath off late. Almost all cryptocurrencies have been on a free-fall recently, with Ether tumbling as much as 13% during Monday’s trading hours. Another leading cryptocurrency slumped, Litecoin, slumped nearly 14% during the trading day.
Analysts blamed US SEC’s harsh decision to impose penalties on against two cryptocurrency companies – Airfox and Paragon Coin Inc – for Monday’s crash. Following the penalties, both the cryptocurrency companies will have to pay $ 250,000 to compensate the investors. US SEC had alleged that Airfox and Paragon had failed to register their digital tokens as securities.
Whether SEC’s penalty decision is indeed responsible for Monday’s crash is quite debatable. However, there can be little argument over the fact that almost all cryptocurrencies have been on the receiving end since the beginning of this year. In fact, the latest data from CoinMarketCap.com depicts a very grim picture for the cryptocurrency industry. The data claims that the cryptocurrency industry lost valuation of more than $660 billion since the January peak.
Experts cited regulatory clampdowns spearheaded by almost all the leading economies for the continuous erosion in the value of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. While experts have described these clampdowns to be driven by lopsided perception, most countries including U.S have justified them as a precautionary measure to save the economy.
With clampdowns continuing at unabated pace, several adherent cryptocurrency supporters have concluded that the cryptocurrency party is indeed over. However, they also claim that while the party is over but the future isn’t.
Cryptocurrency followers vehemently argue that the world at large will eventually make peace with the existence of digital currencies. Their argument is based on the fact that today’s digitally sensitive world simply cannot afford to overlook digital currencies. But there seems to be a unanimous stand that this so called peace won’t happen rapidly, but pretty slowly. Be as it may, it looks that the cryptocurrency will have to brace for a rollercoaster ride in the future.