The cryptocurrency market is down another 2% today following yesterday’s drop in stocks. Bitcoin has dropped to $6,872 per coin, according to CoinMarketCap.com. This marks the lowest price it has been since July 29th. Other cryptocurrencies are also lower. Ethereum is down 5%, Litecoin 4%, Ripple 3%, and Dash 2%.
Crypto markets have fallen sharply over the past week, with losses accelerating in recent days. Yesterday’s plunge came amid speculation about Facebook’s Libra project, which could shake up how money moves around the world. While some investors fear regulation, others worry about the potential impact of distributed ledger technology on traditional financial institutions. In addition, there is concern about the health of China’s crypto mining industry, which accounts for roughly half of global production. The world’s largest digital currency, bitcoin, continues to fall amid fears over the coronavirus outbreak and stock market volatility.
On Wednesday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,175 points, marking the biggest one-day decline since 1987, while the S&P 500 shed 2.5% and the Nasdaq Composite slid 4.6%.
Cryptocurrency markets are also taking a beating as investors worry about the impact of the coronavirus on global economic growth.
Bitcoin, the world’s largest virtual currency by market capitalization, was down nearly 9% to $3,265.93 at 7:12 a. m. ET. On Thursday, it plunged 11% to $3,100.
Meanwhile, ethereum, another major cryptocurrency, slid almost 12% to $894.74 at 8:54 a.m. ET.
Destabilization of stablecoins
Crypto investors were on edge over the weekend because of a brief loss of stability in one popular cryptocurrency. TerraUSD, a stablecoin backed by the U.S. Treasury, temporarily dropped its peg to the greenback. This caused some confusion among traders who thought it had broken free of its dollar tethering. But it wasn’t just a few people confused about what happened; even major crypto exchange Coinbase got involved.
A stablecoin is a digital asset intended to maintain a fixed ratio to another asset such as gold or fiat money. These cryptocurrencies are often used as alternatives to traditional payment methods like credit cards. They are usually tied to the market value of a particular asset — say, $1,000 worth of gold — and require no third party verification.
Terra USD is different from most stablecoins. Its issuer, the Luna Foundation, says it wants to use blockchain technology to make payments cheaper and faster. To do that, it needs to keep its dollar backing intact. So it bought up huge quantities of bitcoin in its reserves, hoping that would help stabilize the price of its USD tokens.
However, the price of Terra USD briefly slipped away from parity to the U.S dollar over the weekend before bouncing back. While there isn’t much information out there about how exactly TerraUSD works, it seems likely that the cryptocurrency is trying to mimic the way Tether operates.
Whales on the move
Cryptocurrency market watchers are keeping a close eye on what appears to be a sudden influx of money into the digital asset space. On Tuesday, Bitcoin fell below $30,000 for the first time since November 2018, prompting some speculation it could soon fall under $20,000.
Related: Terra’rescue plan’ still in limbo as LUNA falls below 5 cents
The cryptocurrency market is seeing a surge in interest among institutional investors, according to data from crypto-analytics site Whale Alert.
On Wednesday, the number of active addresses holding bitcoin rose above 200 million, surpassing the previous record of 198 million set in December 2017.
As Cointelegraph reported earlier today, large-scale investors have been moving funds out of cryptocurrency exchanges Terra Virtues, Bitfinex and Binance in recent weeks.
Meanwhile, the situation at LUNA looks bleak, with the altcoin falling below $5, having lost nearly half its value in less than 24 hours.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL): The Valuation looks Attractive, but Upside may be Capped until Growth Returns
The most recent earnings report showed solid performance across the board. Revenue grew 20% year over year, beating expectations. Earnings per share increased 18%, while net income rose 28%. The stock was up 4% premarket following the announcement.
Looking forward, we think there are several reasons why investors might find Alphabet attractive. First, it’s a high quality company with a long track record of success. Second, it has a diversified revenue stream and a very strong balance sheet. Third, the shares trade at a relatively low P/E ratio compared to its peer group. Finally, the shares traded down sharply during the financial crisis.
Although we’re optimistic about Alphabet’s prospects, we don’t believe the stock is cheap based on historical valuations. We see upside potential, but the risk profile is still tilted toward downside.
The Alieno Unum is purported to be a 5,221-horsepower EV funded by its own crypto. We tried to get to the bottom of this $2.7 million hypercar.
Hypercars are super expensive sports cars that combine both speed and power. They’re rare because they require a lot of money and engineering knowhow to build. But now there’s one that costs less than half a million dollars—and it’s just as fast as some of the priciest models out there.
Alieno Unum is a virtual reality-ready electric hypercar developed by a small team based in Bulgaria. And it took home the title of “most powerful production car in the world” at the Geneva Motor Show earlier this month.
Unum is powered by three electric motors producing a total output of 5,221 horsepower and 258 miles per hour. Its price tag is a mere $2.7 million, making it the cheapest hypercar ever built.
But while Alieno Unum looks like a regular high-performance vehicle, it’s actually much more complicated than that. The car uses a combination of blockchain technology and artificial intelligence to make sure everything runs smoothly.
In addition to being able to track every part of the car remotely, the AI system even allows the driver to control the steering wheel, accelerator, brakes, and transmission via voice command.
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