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Litecoin prices fell 20% after a wave of new investors helped push the price above $100 yesterday (Nov. 29, 2017).
The price of Bitcoin also fell below $9,500 just a day after hitting an all-time high of $11,395. A dramatic sell-off across the entire cryptocurrency market shed more than $50 billion in total market capitalization.
The sharp downturn came shortly after two major exchanges reported a huge surge in traffic, which created a series of bugs and disabled trading across networks.
Joining in on the crusade against cryptocurrencies, economist Joseph Stiglitz argued that Bitcoin's lack of oversight and potential use in illegal activities should draw greater regulatory scrutiny.
"It seems to me it ought to be outlawed. It doesn't serve any socially useful function," he told Bloomberg.
Below is a recap of the top cryptocurrency prices at 12:00 p.m. EST
- Bitcoin: $9,431.85, -13.96%
- Ethereum: $414.18, -16.54%
- Bitcoin Cash: $1,259.04, -21.79%
- Ripple: $-0.2334, -15.98%
- Dash: $745.08, -0.60%
- Bitcoin Gold: 276.13, -19.91%
- Litecoin: $79.72, -20.82%
Now that we know all of today's price movements, here's what has been moving these cryptocurrencies…
Cryptocurrency Markets Today
On Thursday, the market capitalization of the global cryptocurrency sector plunged to $281.79 billion. Bitcoin's market capitalization comprised 55.9% of the total crypto market capitalization.
Only six of the top 100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization showed gains today.
Top performers from the largest 50 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization included Cardano (up 10.87%), Power Ledger (up 10.34%), Tether (up 1.24%), and MonaCoin (up 1.06%).
The worst performers from the top 50 largest cryptocurrencies by market capitalization included Ethereum Classic (down -22.55%), Ardor (down -22.16%), Zcash (down -21.09%), Komodo (down -20.77%), BitShares (down -19.80%), Hshare (down -19.35%), Qtum (down -18.90%), and NEO (down -18.38%).
Bitcoin Prices Retreat Today
The downturn in prices was partially fueled by outages, bugs, and maintenance challenges on Coinbase.
In addition, some traders have reacted negatively to news that the Internal Revenue Service will now receive information on 14,355 users who have traded more than $20,000 on the Coinbase platform.
A California court ruled yesterday that the exchange must report these users to the IRS over concerns related to tax evasion and other potential legal abuses.
Litecoin Drops
Litecoin prices have cratered, and many owners of Litecoin are stuck and unable to sell their coins during this dramatic decline.
That's because Coinbase has been performing maintenance after a spike in traffic volume.
Must Read: You Can Invest in Bitcoin Without Buying Bitcoin
The firm reported this afternoon that it has completed maintenance on its Bitcoin and Ethereum trading capacity.
Other Altcoins Face Pressure
As noted above, altcoins had a terrible day of trading. Even Ripple fell by more than 15% despite significant optimism.
TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington plans to launch a $100 million Ripple-denominated crypto hedge fund, but that wasn't enough to keep prices from falling.
The Fed Fires a Warning
While markets react to Thursday's massive sell-off, one member of the U.S. Federal Reserve is generating buzz about his views of cryptocurrencies.
Fed Gov. Randal Quarles said that cryptocurrencies could pose many dangers as they become more popular and mainstream among retail investors.
"While these digital currencies may not pose major concerns at their current levels of use, more serious financial stability issues may result if they achieve wide-scale usage," Quarles said in a speech in Washington.
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