If this is a reaction to the USDT story then it's come very late. The relationship between Bitfinex and Tether was out in the open about a year ago. Anyway, I'm not sure that Tether's supposed shenanigans would have so much of an impact on a market that was over 800 bln market with a relatively small amount in circulation.
Things did start to accelerate, though, this week when news broke (I saw it first on Bloomberg at about 19:00 CET on Tuesday) concerning the CFTC subpoena of Bitfinex and Tether (which had actually happened back in December) and then yesterday the NYT article about how the BTC price had possibly been manipulated by unbacked Tether (it doesn't really matter whether that's true - it's the sort of news which gives markets the jitters).
We we probably going below 10k (then 9k, then 8k...) anway, but the selling volume after both these news items is nicely correlated.
While the amount of (allegedly) unbacked Tether is small potatoes (maybe a billion or two), it can take a surprisingly small amount to consistently manipulate a market. (800 billion market cap doesn't mean 800 billion was actually put into the market - it's just a price x issuance calculation).
deVere Group launches cryptocurrencies app due to soaring global demand
Lloyds Bank bans Bitcoin purchases on its credit cards probably didn't help the value much.
I assume you read something about $263 million (or some other currency) worth of Bitcoin being offered, which is peanuts.
When you read today's news about traditional stock market who are panicking worldwide because of a "massive" 3% decrease, you put things in perspective.
And yes, crypto currencies values are currently dropping excessively, probably due to numerous panic moves, governments and banks announcements (such as banning credit card purchase). And yes that market is extremely volatile.
Let's not forget there is a fundamental significant difference between normal stock market and the crypto currencies: the technology behind it.
Indeed a good technology does not means financial success on the stock market. What I am reminding is there are some things behind simply trading the currencies that are changing the world significantly and we are only at the beginning of that phase.
And I would dare to even say that it's somehow good that the prices are "stabilising" (after current drops, I suspect it will be the new trend). It will make these crypto currencies even better and more easy to use on a daily basis. Which in turn, should reinforce their values.
In fact the traditional big players (banks, governments...) have started to take crypto currencies as a serious enemy out of their control and they are making significant moves to have the entire cake for themselves.
For a weak example, take the XRP (Ripple). It's value dropped terribly in the last few days. Yet more and more banks are using it and it will replace traditional payment systems (dating from the 70's!!!). It's weak example because it does not works as other crypto currencies with limited supplies, the company behind ripple control how many XRP are in the market.
Other examples are these exchanges who are making a fortune on fees, reducing the transaction fees of traditional credit cards and also creating a risk for those fools who where using their credit card to purchase crypto currencies with money they could not afford to lose. It created a risk for numerous banks, not only because these people might not be able to repay and because of the loss of normal transaction fees*. It resulted in some (logical) ban and more panic on the market.
*because when you purchase or exchange crypto currencies, the fees are no longer going to the banks.
My opinion is very clear, it's impossible from a technological point of view that we go back or cancel the crypto currencies. Real control is not possible by governments, which is one of the purpose and advantage of some of the crypto currencies (like Monero). So the governments are starting media panic and pretend to play the "protectors" to save citizen (the idiots ones investing money they can't lose). Instead of taking measures to support this revolution and providing a decent support to that evolving financial industry.
All that is creating havoc on the market, when the panic will settle, people will realise it's there to last and the value will raise again. Hopefully less volatile as it is an impediment to the cryptocurrencies taking over some financial aspect of our societies.
On another note, it will be interesting to see whether money from the stock market will now flow back into crypto.
How do you value one cryptocurrency from another? From what I understand, there are thousands of cryptos and surely the vast majority of them will fail? What use would it be to have thousands of different crypto currencies?
I'm not at all interested in buying any crypto, it's impossible to value and I just wouldn't have any idea why the price should be any different from today... but I'm interested in how they work and what causes so many people to buy them. I understand the benefit of the blockchain, but why does that make bitcoin worth anything?
Your example with ripple. Do not confuse RTXP (the transaction protocol) and XRP the currency
Users of the Ripple network are not required to use XRP as a store of value or a medium of exchange
Another example is Mastercard
What prevents a whale from having two crypto wallets and buying/ seling between them, thereby manipulating prices. I mean if the orders are large enough, a whale could make sure small fish do not have any significant effect.