Cryptocurrencies dropped sharply today!

Prices of the most prominent digital currencies tied to the bitcoin and ethereum networks fell sharply on Tuesday, extending their retreat from records set last month, even as the nascent market shows signs of maturing.
Bitcoin has been in the news lately as an overwhelming majority of miners, the computer operators who maintain its blockchain network, backed a software upgrade that will boost the speed of processing transactions, likely averting a split that could have resulted in multiple versions of the digital currency.

The slump in prices on Tuesday could have been driven by a faction of developers who are backing a split in the bitcoin blockchain instead.

But the software update, called Segregated Witness, or SegWit, is slated to go into production on bitcoin’s blockchain on August 24, according to Elizabeth Stark, CEO and co-founder of Lightning Labs. “The technology we’re building, Lightning Network, uses Segregated Witness. So this is an exciting development for us,” Stark said.

Charles Hayter, co-founder of CryptoCompare, brushed aside bitcoin’s recent volatility.

“The industry, the exchanges and the miners agreed on the SegWit software and it is going ahead as planned. The day-to-day volatility is just noise,” Hayter said.

“A small minority can create a parallel bitcoin, mainly to get attention, but it will languish in obscurity as most people use the main bitcoin,” he said.

Meanwhile, the SEC has issued an investigative report concluding that initial coin offerings are securities and thus subject to the requirements of federal securities laws.

An ICO is a blockchain-based means of crowdfunding in which a company issues tokens — essentially a mini-cryptocurrency that can be traded or can unlock benefits. Tokens can be bought with currencies such as bitcoin, or, more popularly lately, ether.

The co-founder of the ethereum network recently came out on record saying ICOs are a “ticking time-bomb,” and the system needs to cool off before it implodes.

“There’s an over-tokenization of things as companies are issuing tokens when the same tasks can be achieved with existing blockchains,” Charles Hoskinson told Bloomberg News. “People are blinded by fast and easy money.”

At latest check, a single bitcoin BTCUSD+1.12% which hit an all-time high above $3,000 on June 11, was down 6.6% to $2,595.54. Meanwhile, ether, the currency underpinning the ethereum network, tumbled 9.8% to trade at $201.34. Ether peaked at $395.16 on June 13, according to cryptocurrency research-and-data site Coindesk.

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Both bitcoin and ether had been on a tear so far this year. Bitcoin’s market value, representing all the value outstanding bitcoins in its network, has risen more than 160% since the start of the year, sending its total market value to $42.4 billion.

But the ascent of ether in 2017 has been even more impressive. Since the start of the year, ether has skyrocketed in value by 2,500%. Ether’s market capitalization at its peak last month was nearly as big as bitcoin’s, but after recent retreat, it’s at $19.25 billion.
The total value of all digital currencies is about $89 billion, according to Coinmarketcap.com.

Gyrations in digital currencies come as a bitcoin options exchange, LedgerX, received regulatory approval on Monday from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission to clear options trades in digital currencies, notably bitcoin. The options exchange would be the first of its kind and may add to the legitimacy and expansion of the cybercurrency market.

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