The Crash: Bitcoin, Ethereum Prices Plunge as Market Drops Below $100 Billion

The Slippening continued on Friday as two more Chinese bitcoin exchanges announced they will shutter their trading services. The bitcoin price crashed beneath $3,000 to reach a 6-week low, while the ethereum price fell below the $200 threshold for the first time since July.

bitcoin price
Chart from CoinMarketCap

Altogether, the markets shed another $20 billion, reducing the total cryptocurrency market cap below to just $99 billion. Since setting an all-time high on September 2, the crypto market cap has fallen by $80 billion.

Chart from CoinMarketCap

The impetus for this continued downward momentum is the shaky Chinese regulatory environment. Following more than a week of unconfirmed reports that the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) would ban bitcoin exchanges, BTCC–the world’s longest-running cryptocurrency exchange–announced yesterday it will suspend trading on September 30. This announcement was followed today by closure announcements from Yunbi and ViaBTC, and a new report from Chinese media service Caixin says that Huobi and OKCoin will shutter their platforms in October.

Bitcoin Price Dips Below $3,000

The bitcoin price fell another 17% on Friday, bringing its 7-day decline to 36%. Significantly, the bitcoin price has fallen below the $3,000 threshold for the first time since early August. At present, the global average bitcoin price is $2,970, which translates into a market cap of $49.2 billion.

Bitcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Bitcoin is still trading slightly above that mark on a few exchanges, but BTC/CNY pairs are placing severe downward pressure on the global average. OKCoin, for instance, currently has bitcoin trading at just $2,600.

Ethereum Price Falls to July Levels

Although bitcoin’s decline has been steep, ethereum’s has been even more precipitous. Since last week, the ethereum price has fallen 40%. In the past day alone, the ethereum price has shed more than $50 to post a 20% decline. The ethereum price is now just $198, which is its lowest mark since late July. Ethereum’s market cap has now dropped below $20 billion and currently sits at $18.8 billion.

Ethereum Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Altcoin Massacre Continues

The market’s bearish turn continued to pummel altcoins on Friday, with 92 of the top 100 cryptocurrencies posting 24-hour declines of 10% or greater. Even more startling is the fact that 26 of those cryptocurrencies fell at least 30%. This massacre pushed bitcoin’s dominant market share back across 50% for the first time since August 17.

Altcoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

The bitcoin cash price plunged 28% to $316, dropping it to 4th place on the market cap charts. Ripple, which declined “just” 17%, now controls the 3rd spot with a market cap of $5.9 billion.

Litecoin Price Chart from CoinMarketCap

Litecoin posted the worst performance in the top 10, losing 32% of its total valuation in just 24 hours. The litecoin price–which surpassed $90 less than two weeks ago–has now been reduced to $34.

The Dash price fell 19% to $221, while NEM’s 20% decline reduced its price to $0.163. Monero and IOTA also posted significant declines; they fell 27% and 25% respectively.

Tenth-ranked ethereum classic joined litecoin at the head of the retreat, plummeting 30% to $8. Ethereum classic’s market cap is now just $767 million, reducing the total number of cryptocurrencies with $1 billion market caps to nine.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Last modified: March 4, 2021 4:59 PM

Josiah Wilmoth

Josiah is the former U.S. Editor at CCN.com, where he focused on financial markets. He lives in rural Virginia. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email him directly at josiah.wilmoth(at)ccn.com.