Bitcoin Price Dips to $4,273 as Bitcoin Cash Becomes More Profitable to Mine
The bitcoin price dipped below $4,300 on Friday after rising to a new all-time high on August 17. Bitcoin cash, meanwhile, broke out of its $300 rut and soared past $550 to regain the 3rd spot in the market cap rankings. At current levels, bitcoin cash is now more profitable to mine than the main bitcoin blockchain.
Buoyed by bitcoin cash, the cryptocurrency market cap overcame the bitcoin and ethereum price recession to post a minor increase for the day. At present, the total value of all cryptocurrencies is $144.1 billion–a 24-hour increase of $50 million.
Bitcoin Price Slips Below $4,300
The bitcoin price posted a new record on August 17, climbing as high as $4,492 on Bitfinex. However, it experienced a steep decline to the $4,300 mark and hovered there throughout the remainder of the day. At present, the bitcoin price is $4,273–a 24-hour decline of 4%. Nevertheless, bitcoin still boasts a market cap of more than $70.5 billion.
Despite this slight decline, support for bitcoin continues to grow. As CCN.com reported, bitcoin now has bipartisan support in the Australian legislature, and former PayPal COO David Sacks told CNBC that he believes cryptocurrency fulfills the “original vision” of PayPal. The recent deployment of the Blockstream Satellite network could make it easier for people without Internet access to participate in the bitcoin ecosystem. Google searches for “bitcoin,” meanwhile, continue to reach record levels.
Ethereum Price Continues to Hover at $300
The ethereum price returned a 2% decline on Friday, pulling the value of ether back to $302. Ethereum has held fairly steady at this level for more than a week, unable to hold above $325 but also never seeing sustained dips below $290. At present, ethereum’s market cap is $28.4 billion.
Bitcoin Cash Price Explodes
Like ethereum, the bitcoin cash price had been chained to the $300 range for more than a week. However, it broke out of that rut on Friday, soaring more than 82%. At present, the bitcoin cash price is $566, giving the coin a market cap of $9.4 billion. Needless to say, this price rally enabled bitcoin cash to supplant Ripple as the 3rd-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.
Things have been looking up for bitcoin cash. This week, the first 8MB bitcoin cash block was found, enabling the network to easily address a spam attack that created an 80,000+ transaction backlog. Thanks to today’s price surge, bitcoin cash is now 6% more profitable to mine than the original bitcoin blockchain.
Altcoin Markets Mostly Red
Most altcoins followed bitcoin and ethereum into the red on Friday.
Ripple and ethereum classic were more or less stable, but the IOTA price plunged 11% after crossing $1 on August 17.
The litecoin price posted a rare 5% gain, increasing to almost $46. However, this rise was not enough to push it past IOTA, who continues to claim the 5th-place ranking.
The NEM price fell 3% to $0.246, while NEO dropped 7% to reverse the latter phase of its recent surge. The Dash price, meanwhile, dipped 9% to $232 after reaching a new all-time high yesterday.
Bitcoin Market Share Drops to 49%
Bitcoin’s dominant streak ended on Friday as its market share dropped back to 49.4%. Ethereum’s share declined as well, dipping below 20%. Bitcoin cash, on the other hand, saw its share increase to about 6.5%.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
