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Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies entered another selloff period on Thursday, ending a period of recovery and stability that had lasted for much of last month.
The US dollar price of Bitcoin was trading at $ 3,615.08 on Thursday, down 10.1% from a maximum of 24 hours to $ 4020.53 at the start of the day, according to Coindesk.
Other cryptocurrencies have decreased even more on Thursday. Ethereum was trading at $ 126.31, down 15.4% in the last 24 hours. XRP, a digital asset developed by Ripple, lost 11.1% to $ 0.33. Litecoin fell 14.9% to $ 32.99 and Bitcoin Cash dropped 16.8% to $ 131.92.
According to CoinMarketCap, the total market value of cryptocurrencies stood at $ 122.7 billion, down 10.6% on the previous day.
The cause for the sudden decline in cryptocurrency was not clear. Bitcoin and other digital assets have long been volatile, having plunged for most of 2018 after rising for several years.
Bitcoin, for example, is down by almost 80% from a peak reached in December 2017, although it remains almost 16 times higher than where it was four years ago.
Volatility has amplified a long-standing debate about whether cryptocurrencies are a risky mania or promising technology that has long-term potential in many applications. Some Wall Street companies and institutional investors had heated up with Bitcoin and other digital assets in 2018 before their values fell in the last months of the year.
