Crypto drops below $ 6,000, crawling to the lowest point of 2018

The price of bitcoin fell to less than $ 6,000 in the early hours of Tuesday, falling to an almost low level for the year as cryptocurrencies have suffered losses in value.

Metrics on Coindesk and CryptoCompare websites that track the price of virtual currencies – showed that the price of a single bitcoin dropped briefly to $ 5,915 in the early morning. It was slowly crept into the more severe depth of 2018, which was recorded in June at $ 5,785.

Coindesk's analysis suggested that the total market capitalization of all cryptocurrencies is currently less than $ 200 billion, the lowest position of the year so far. CoinMarketCap, a platform that shows market capitalization, has shown that Ethereum, XRP and Monero have a downward trend

An expert told Newsweek that the price spiral could be linked to the recent recoil of a stock exchange exchanged fund proposal of the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). "This has triggered a negative investor sentiment," said Charles Hayter, CEO of CryptoCompare.

Bitcoin has fascinated financial investors in the last months of 2017, enticed by a peak of value that exceeded almost $ 20,000 per currency. Since then it has declined in price, but the defenders remain bullish.

Federal agencies, including the SEC, warn that the market is volatile and open to manipulation. The exchanges have suffered major cyber attacks and hack this year, some have lost millions of dollars. Those who buy the promise of the sector say that the dives are normal and are a good time to invest.

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A user on the Reddit page dedicated to bitcoin commented on Tuesday: "I'm selling now? There is no way. Bitcoin is not broken, Bitcoin did not do anything wrong, it still works. "

" Will there be bumps along the way? What do you think we're going through now? "Added the post of challenge. "At this moment, some [you] will decide: will you become a coward or not?"

GEOFFROY VAN DER HASSELT / AFP / Getty Images

Hayter also remained constant in his support for bitcoin and its basic technology.

"Bitcoin and its kind are opening a new arena of finance," he said Newsweek via e-mail. "The hopes and speculations that hit the market last year have been eroded in recent months.

" That said, under the hood a lot of work was done to form the routes to incumbent institutions and to provide them with mechanisms and mechanisms. guarantees to enter the cryptocurrency space, "continued Hayter." It is only a matter of time before the crypto-sphere becomes part of the mainstream. But it needs to grow a lot in the process. "

But one expert warned that in March there would be" more blood to come ", predicting further price drops." At this moment, my money is on the market that continues to fall, "said journalist Ran Neuner. But it's still not the end – there's always the possibility of a market rebound.

The price of a single bitcoin was valued at $ 6,091 at the time of writing.