Markets Fail to Hold Yesterday’s Gains, Bitcoin Trades Below $3,500

Monday, Dec. 10: Crypto markets have failed to hold another recovery attempt, with nearly all top 20 coins by market capitalization in the red as of press time.

After a slight bump yesterday, Dec. 9, with Bitcoin (BTC) seeing its price grow from around $3,400 to more than $3,600, markets are seeing another decline as losses over the 24-hour period for some major coins reach more than 9 percent, according to CoinMarketCap.

Market visualization from Coin360

The top cryptocurrency Bitcoin is down by 4.59 percent, trading at $3,474 at press time. As noted earlier today, the Bitcoin volatility index has recently spiked threefold on the month, following a period of price stability.

Exactly one year ago, on Dec. 10, 2017, the price of Bitcoin was $17,102 per coin, almost 80 percent higher than the price of Bitcoin today. Bitcoin’s market share index is 55 percent, down from 62.4 percent exactly one year ago, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin all-time price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

The second cryptocurrency by market cap, Ripple (XRP), is seeing more losses today, down almost 5 percent over the past 24 hours and trading at $0.301 at press time.

XRP 7-day price chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

After dropping below the $100 price point on Dec. 6, major altcoin Ethereum (ETH) has dipped to as low as $90 per coin earlier today. The altcoin is trading at $90.99 at press time, down almost 6 percent over the 24-hour period.

Dash is seeing the biggest losses among the top 20 coins at press time, with its price down 9.58 percent, and trading at $68.14.

Total market capitalization is $110 billion at press time, down from $115 billion at the beginning of the day. Daily trade volume is $13 billion at press time.

Total market capitalization 7-day chart. Source: CoinMarketCap

Recently, the Indian government reportedly suggested new regulations to entirely ban cryptocurrencies in the country. According to anonymous sources, a government panel “has categorically said” that the crypto operations should be considered illegal and monitored by India's central banking institution the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).

While India may soon join the list of anti-crypto countries like China, some European countries have taken a more crypto-friendly regulatory approach. The British Parliament is purportedly considering allowing payments to local authorities and utility providers with Bitcoin. In late November, Liechtenstein authorities granted a license to Cryptoassets Exchange (LCX) to operate as a fully regulated blockchain ecosystem.

Meanwhile, the crypto industry’s mining sector continues to struggle, with China-based mining giant Bitmain reportedly closing its development center in Israel, as well as laying off local staff.