Why Are Ethereum, Ripple Prices Dropping? Cryptocurrencies Dip As Bitcoin Value Falls

Bitcoin prices plummeted over the weekend and continued on Tuesday when it dipped below $12,065, a 20 percent drop from the previous week according to OnChainFX. This volatility followed reports that Chinese authorities are cracking down on online cryptocurrency trading platforms and businesses that offer clearing or settlement services. China may soon lose its role as the world’s most active bitcoin trading market. When bitcoin falters, the whole cryptocurrency market often follows suit.

Other cryptocurrencies such as ether, XRP and lumens and bitcoin cash all plunged between 15 to 24.6 percent over the past 24 hours. To put this in perspective, CoinMarketCap estimates Ethereum’s namesake ether tokens sold for around $680 at the same time last month. This recent drop brings ether tokens back down to around $1,120, by CoinMarketCap’s metric excluding South Korean exchanges. CoinMarketCap estimates Ripple’s XRP tokens sank around 29 percent over the past 24 hours to $1.34 per token, a steeper decline than OnChainFX ’s measurements. Yet even this more dramatic ranking places XRP prices at around 55.9 percent higher than they were one month ago at roughly $0.75 each.

Only a few tokens out of hundreds of cryptocurrencies continued to rise or plateau despite the bitcoin debacle. They include FirstCoin, KuCoin Shares and Tether, all of which have been associated with questionable legal practices or fake advertisements. OnChainFX warned FirstCoin materials highlight potential “rewards” if prospective buyers register for more information, which is one common trend among online scams. The rest of the cryptocurrency market, from zcash to Cardano’s ADA tokens, is experiencing a routine slide.

The cryptocurrency market is typically quite volatile. So many community veterans see this as an opportunity to buy more cryptocurrency at a lower price, or simply ignore the dip altogether.

Meanwhile, Ethereum creator Vitalik Buterin scaled back his involvement with the Chinese investment firm Fenbushi Capital. TechCrunch reported he will now only serve as an advisor. Buterin has been outspoken on Twitter about his distaste for the focus on profits over pragmatic blockchain applications with real use cases.

“2017 really has been the year where hype in crypto, including financial hype and social hype in general has far exceeded the reality of what existing blockchain systems can offer,” Buterin told TechCrunch. “I expect 2018, at least within the Ethereum space that I’m best able to speak about, will be the year of action...Everyone in the Ethereum space recognizes that the world is watching, and we are ready to deliver.”