Bitcoin (BTC)
At press time, bitcoin is trading for just over $6,400, a price it managed to secure yesterday afternoon. The currency has been the victim of several price swings over the last few days, which likely stem from the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) announcement that it was postponing its decision regarding the VanEck SolidX bitcoin ETF.
This caused a panic in the cryptocurrency community, though to be fair, it’s likely people are overreacting to the news. The SEC has not said “no;” they are simply moving the decision further down the line. The organization says it will either accept or reject the company’s proposal by September 30.
Ethereum (ETH)
Ethereum – the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap and the number one competitor to bitcoin – is now trading for about $356.
The currency, like bitcoin, has also been deeply affected by the SEC’S decision. Ethereum started the week trading for just over $400, but quickly fell by roughly $50 once it became clear that the governing body was moving its decision into September.
However, many still hold faith in Ethereum like software king Microsoft, which announced the launch of a new Ethereum proof-of-authority on Azure.
Ripple (XRP)
Ripple has fallen by approximately 16 percent since the SEC made the decision not to move forward for the time being. At press time, it is trading for roughly 33 cents – about ten cents less than when it began the week.
Still, the currency continues to garner popularity overseas. The coin recently made its way onto the cryptocurrency payments platform coins.ph in the Philippines, which boasts over five million users. The system allows users to pay their bills using cryptocurrency, and XRP appears to be heading straight for mass adoption.
Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
At the time of writing, bitcoin cash is trading for about $593. This is about $120 less than where it was trading just last week.
A recent security vulnerability found in the bitcoin cash blockchain has been discovered. The technology was being jammed with what one source calls a “toxic block” that if exploited, would have caused complete consensus failure. Bitcoin cash would have been split in two, thereby stopping transactions and destroying its price.
Corey Fields, who discovered the bug, explains:
“Working through this bug, which certainly had the potential for catastrophe, has reaffirmed my belief that the threat of software bugs is severely underestimated in the cryptocurrency world.”
Litecoin (LTC)
Litecoin is trading for an unimpressive $62. This is about $15 less than where Litecoin stood just last week.
Like all other major currencies, Litecoin is deep in the red, yet still has a loyal legion of followers. The currency was recently listed on Netcoins, which seeks to make the purchase and sale of cryptocurrencies easier through brokerage services.
Image(s): Shutterstock.com