Bitcoin Nears Bear Market Territory

Bitcoin is currently down about $500, or nearly 17%, from its June 12th peak of $3,000 per coin. Essentially every other major cryptocurrency, including Ethereum and Litecoin, has seen similar declines. There have been fluctuations since the peak, but the overall trend has been steadily downhill for weeks.

While it can seem odd to apply old-school securities terms to newfangled digital money, that means the crypto market is nearing the conventional 20% decline that defines bear territory.

Few insiders — or regular Fortune readers — are likely surprised by this. "Bubble" was maybe the single word most consistently spoken by expert panelists at the Consensus conference in late May. Our Robert Hackett diagnosed aspeculative bubble two weeks before the peak.