The decline that began exactly one week ago (Wednesday 5 September) has affected all altcoins, without exception.
The weekly chart shows double-digit drops for the top 100 cryptocurrencies. The only positive sign is Dogecoin (DOGE), which, in sharp contrast, rose about 30% from last week’s levels.
Even today Ethereum (ETH) drops 10% from yesterday morning’s levels. Without going beyond the top 15, the same fate affects Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Cardano (ADA) and Dash.
Despite the fact that the swings have been below the parity threshold for over 24 hours, Bitcoin continues to limit the damage by stopping the descent below the percentage point, managing to stay above the support of $6,000.
The heavy downturn knocks down the total capitalization that returns to 187 billion dollars, levels of early November 2017.
The selloff that is affecting all the other main cryptocurrencies, leads to taking refuge in bitcoin that is close to 58% of the market share.
The highest level in the last 9 months. The last time was on December 13, 2017, four days before the historic record of $20,000.
Ethereum collapses below 10% of market share, the lowest level recorded since December 8, 2017.
To better understand the current situation we have to go back to June 2017, when between bitcoin and ethereum the dominance was almost equal, with the first at 37% and the second just under 31%.
In those days, the third token in the ranking, Ripple (XRP), held just over 9% of the market share. Since then, bitcoin has returned to gain dominance, managing to climb to 65% in December, negatively affecting Ethereum by a few decimals below today’s levels.
From March to June of this year we have seen ups and downs balancing between 36 and 45% with bitcoin. From the beginning of the summer, a slow but inexorable market conquest began, which is now setting a new annual record.
The sales that are hitting Ethereum mark a very critical moment on the second cryptocurrency. The enthusiasm of the investors who at the beginning of the year brought Ether to fly over 1400 dollars, now seems a sad memory.
Today Ethereum is the mainnet used to issue ERC20 tokens that account for over 82% of the coins on the market.
And it is precisely the close connection between Ethereum and ICOs that, unlike in December, is now dangerously affecting the prices.
Over $30 million (approximately 153,500 Ether) were sold last week by many ICOs launched over the past year.
The heaviest liquidation since last March. A 5% share of the entire amount is still held in the accounts of the hundreds of ICOs launched in recent months.
The total estimated value is about $600 million, or 3.5 million ETHs.
In addition to the technical difficulties, the news of the last hours also contributes to further affect negatively not only the prices but also the mood of the teams that recently launched ICOs to raise capital.
Yesterday, a US federal judge, who is following cases of alleged ICO fundraising scams, stated that many ICO offers can be considered as equity securities, being considered a cash investment with an expectation of profits from business activities.
Moreover, in most cases, it appears that ICO issuers have not complied with the investor verification regulations, namely KYC and AML (anti-money laundering).
This position further reinforces the intentions of the US SEC and FINRA to regulate the ICOs and to define the correct terminology between utility tokens and security.
While waiting for developments in the coming weeks, uncertainty will continue to prevail and influence the volatility of crypto markets.
The way now seems to have been mapped out for the classification of tokens for the future.
It will be necessary to understand how the hundreds of already existing ICOs will be classified and regulated.
