Technology

Posted on September 10, 2018 by staff

Ether and Bitcoin slump as crypto markets hit 10-month low

Technology

The world’s cryptocurrency markets have slumped to a ten-month low.

The sector’s market capitalisation, tracked by CoinMarketCap.com, shrank to $197 billion (£152.36bn) – down $640bn (£494.99bn) from its January peak.

Amid fears that investors are losing interest in digital currencies, Bitcoin has fallen 2.5 per cent since its opening price on Friday and is trading at $6,313 at the time of writing.

But the most dramatic fall has been in Ether, the second most expensive cryptocurrency.

Ether is down around 17 per cent on its opening price on Friday.

Ether co-founder Vitalik Buterin said over the weekend that “the blockchain space is getting to the point where there’s a ceiling in sight”.

Speaking at the Ethereum Industry Summit conference in Hong Kong, he added: “If you talk to the average educated person at this point, they probably have heard of blockchain at least once.

“There isn’t an opportunity for yet another 1,000-times growth in anything in the space anymore.”

In a sign of the times, US regulator the Securities and Exchange Commission recently suspended trading in two securities linked to Ethereum, citing “confusion” as to what the financial instruments did.

They said their decision was in “the public interest” and that it had to protect investors.