Crypto Markets Continue Experiencing Slump, BTC Dips Below $10,000

Crypto markets have continued their slump, with Bitcoin (BTC) briefly dipping below $10,000 today, Feb. 22, and altcoin Ethereum (ETH) edging closer to $800, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Total market cap is down as well, around $430 bln by press time, down from last week when it broke $500 bln. Bitcoin is currently trading a little over $10,000, down almost 7 percent over a 24-hour period by press time. Cointelegraph reported Wednesday that Bitcoin’s tolerance had seen a monthly high of 34.9 percent, a high barely broken today with CoinMarketCap data showing a 39.5 percent BTC dominance. Ethereum is down 4 percent over a 24-hour period, trading around $810 by press time. Altcoin Ripple (XRP) has seen a large dip this week as well. After Saturday, Feb. 21’s, high of $1.21, Ripple is currently trading at around $0.93, down almost 10 percent over a 24-hour period by press time. After the Feb. 20 launch of Venezuela’s oil-backed government cryptocurrency, the Petro, Twitter user dark pill pointed out that the unrelated and “abandoned” cryptocurrency PetroDollar (XPD) briefly saw a price rise on CoinMarketCap potentially due to a similarity in name. Unbelievable: website expired, no commits for 4 years, dev was Bryce Weiner, this abandoned dead shitcoin is pumping just because it has a similar name to the Venezuelan Petro. pic.twitter.com/dgc0lnU7Uw — dark pill (@DanDarkPill) February 22, 2018 XPD is now down by a little more than 34 percent over a 24-hour period by press time, trading for around $0.03