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In what may be a case of easy come, easy go, Bitcoin and more than a score of other cryptocurrencies are shedding value fast. Since peaking near $20,000 on Dec. 17, Bitcoin’s price has plummeted more than 50%. It stood at $9,650 at mid-morning Wednesday, down more than $2,000 in the past 24 hours alone, according to Coinmarketcap.com.
Nor is Bitcoin alone in this plunge. All of the 38 largest crytpocurrencies by market capitalization shed value in the last day or so, many by double-digit percentages, according to Coinmarketcap’s ranking. Number-two Ether, for example, is down 27%, to just over $800. Third-ranked Ripple has dropped by a third, to 94 cents, and number-four Bitcoin Cash stood at $1,447, down 27%.
To be sure, Bitcoin has generally been on a downward slide since Jan. 6, when its price was pegged at $17,500. Market observers blame regulatory moves in China and South Korea, sites of much of the cryptocurrency’s mining and exchange activity.
But another factor is one many had hoped would lend an air of legitimacy to Bitcoin—futures trading. Both the Cboe and the CME, two of the world’s largest futures markets, began trading Bitcoin contracts last month. But now contracts at prices below the spot price of Bitcoin are sending bearish signals and spooking investors, according to observers.
The silver lining in this cloud could be a moderation in what has been a sky-high transaction cost for Bitcoin. Since peaking at an all-time high of $34 per transaction two days before Christmas, the median fee had slipped to $12.67 by Tuesday, according to Bitinforcharts.com. That’s still high enough to discourage ordinary retail transactions with Bitcoin, but a favorable sign nonetheless.
With Bitcoin, users who spend the digital currency pay the transaction fee, which has been driven up in recent months by an overload of transaction volume on Bitcoin’s blockchain.
