Let’s face it, the cryptocurrency markets have not been doing that great for much of 2018 and today we are seeing a new Bitcoin price lowest point for the year. Sure, we are only two weeks into the new year but the majority of the top 100 cryptocurrencies have seen market value drops. At time of writing, only three of the top 100 by market capitalization are seeing gains in price today.
Bitcoin Price Lowest in Weeks
Today sees Bitcoin price lowest since the bottom fell out somewhat in November and then it started that long climb toward $20K. The price dipped as low as $11,442 before rebounding back above $12,000. That puts the price off by over 17% since the previous day on lower volumes. Later in the morning it started to pick back up, both in volume and price.
Along with the new Bitcoin price lowest point a couple other major cryptocurrencies have hit their lowest points today as well. Litecoin fell to under $200 for the first time all year, Ripple is dropping like a stone down to $1.30 from a high of $3.84 this year. Even Ethereum, which seemed bulletproof with a long run upward, has dropped back to just over $1000, a low for it not seen since January 5th. It had been on pretty much a steady upward climb even against all the bad news of late.
Bad News for Cryptocurrencies
First, Coinbase delisted several Korean exchanges, which sent the cryptocurrency market into something of a small tailspin. The reasoning for the delisting was because that cryptos were trading for a premium on those exchanges. Sometimes the prices were upwards of 30% above others. That was, they decided, artificially driving up the overall market capitalization and average prices. Now, South Korea has come out and said they are considering banning cryptocurrencies. Their reasons include the highly speculative nature of them and what they see as something of an addiction among some of their people. They have also stated, this week, that a crackdown may still happen, which in part drove Bitcoin price lowest in weeks.
Citizens of South Korea are getting together and have formed a petition to the government in hopes of preventing a digital currency crackdown. It currently has over 200,000 signatures out of a total population of roughly 51 million. Essentially, the citizens signing the petition state that the government is stealing their dreams of wealth accumulation, a dream they did not see as possible before cryptocurrencies entered the country.
China has, of late, also begun a crackdown on cryptocurrencies by banning mining, shutting down exchanges and outright banning initial coin offerings (ICO) in the country. Its citizens have responded by finding alternate ways to accomplish those things.
In the European Union, stricter rules are coming into play now for cryptocurrencies in order to prevent money laundering and to fight the ability for terrorism to be funded through the platforms.
Crypto Pragmatism
Meanwhile, over in Germany, the director of their central bank has stated that any regulation of cryptocurrencies would need to be a global one because of its decentralized nature. The director, Joachim Wuermeling, believes that no single nation will be able to contain such a “global phenomenon.” He believes that all countries would need to come together in order to effectively regulate cryptocurrencies.
Germany has gone so far, around a year ago, to make Bitcoin a legal currency for tax and trade. That means they can collect taxes on commercial Bitcoin transactions. Has Germany become one of the most progressive and forward thinking nations in the world in terms of currency?
You know that Bitcoin price lowest since December is big news when CNN Money covers it and talks about how to buy Bitcoin, and then loses money doing it (bought $20, then sold for just $15.09). Not a great way to demonstrate good cryptocurrency savvy, from a guy who was supposed to be such.
A Good Time To Buy?
Today would definitely be a good time to buy it because many believe that it will never dip below the $10,000 mark again. With it sitting at under $11,500, you could stand to make a pretty good profit on it. A lot of the downfall currently comes from people in South Korea and China selling off their coins. That drives the speculative price downward.
However, with all the news articles, very much like this one, talking about cryptocurrencies, it’s almost a sure bet that there will be new investors coming into them and driving those prices back up. If you buy today and Bitcoin price reaches it’s former high of $19,900, you’d stand to make $8,450 per coin, give or take. That’s roughly a 57% profit. The easiest way to do that is to open a Coinbase account, verify you are who you say you are, connect a bank account or card, and drop some cash into cryptocurrencies.
