Saturday, Aug. 24 — crypto markets continued to see red today as Bitcoin (BTC) has dipped below $10,000 price mark several times over the past 12 hours.
Only two out of the top-20 coins by market cap are seeing gains over the past 24 hours at press time, including Cardano (ADA) and NEO (NEO), which are up 1.3% and 2.6%, respectively.
Market visualization | Source: Coin360
BTC fights to hold $10K support
Bitcoin is trading at $10,066 at press time, down 3.3% over the past 24 hours. The biggest cryptocurrency has dropped below $10,000 threshold three times over the past 12 hours and dropped below yesterday’s low of $10,078, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Meanwhile, losses over the past 7 days constitute 1.3% at press time.
Bitcoin 24-hour price chart | Source: Coin360
Ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is down 2.3% to trade at nearly $190 at press time. The top altcoin is up by roughly 2.9% over the past 7 days.
Ether 7-day price chart | Source: Coin360
XRP, the third cryptocurrency by market cap, tumbled 2.2% to $0.269 at press time. As with Ether, XRP is still up 2.1% over the past 7 days.
XRP 7-day price chart | Source: Coin360
Total market capitalization slipped from $270 billion at the beginning of the day to $263 billion at press time. Daily trade volume also tumbled from $52 billion to $49 billion.
Privacy-focused altcoin Monero (XMR) is seeing the biggest losses among top-20 coins by market cap, down nearly 5% over the past 24 hours.
Carney’s call for a monetary system to replace USD
Yesterday, the Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney said that a digital currency like Facebook’s not-yet-launched cryptocurrency Libra could replace the United States dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Anthony Pompliano, founder of crypto investment firm Morgan Creek Digital Assets, pointed out that the supportive stance to Libra from the British regulator and central bank indicates the rapid adoption of crypto. He wrote on Twitter:
“It only took 10 years for central bankers to go from unaware of digital currencies to calling for one as the global reserve currency. This is moving much faster than almost anyone expected.”
Commenting on Carney’s recent call for a global monetary system to replace the U.S. dollar, crypto and blockchain expert Joseph Young noted that it is a “very interesting time for bitcoin and gold” as the currency war is intensifying alongside rising geopolitical risks. Young added that while Bitcoin’s price short term trend seems to be a minor downtrend, there is a chance that more investors will take a better look at alternative stores of value amid the foreign exchange wars.