The Bears are Back in Town

The cryptocurrency market slipped even further into recession this week.With a total market cap of $258bln, it’s down 20% from the $320bln in value it carried going into this week.This is the lowest the entire market has been since November, 24th 2017.

Yep, we’ve turned back the clock and dialed prices back to 2017 levels.Too bad this valuation was on the come-up last year–now it’s just the hangover of the market’s meteoric rise.While it’s not necessarily a good feeling to be at our lowest lows in four months, perhaps this most recent precipitous drop tells us that we’re nearing a bottom.But we’re not out of the woods yet. Teaming up with digital payment provider

Bitcoin: Nearly mirroring the market’s own movements, granddaddy Bitcoin is down 21% on the week, dropping from a humble $8,600 to an even humbler $6,720.

Ethereum: Ethereum is fairing even worse.At $377, the second most popular cryptocurrency is down 28% over the seven day period from its $528 asking price at the beginning of the week.

Ripple: Number three on our list is performing better than usual.Well, better is relative, here, as it’s still down 21% at $0.50 from $0.64, but it hasn’t recorded the largest price decrease of the bunch as it has in other bear weeks:

Domestic News

 Bill Barhydt, CEO of crypto investment app Abra, predicts that “all hell will break loose” in the cryptocurrency world as western institutional money begins to explore crypto assets. “I talk to hedge funds, high net worth individuals, even commodity speculators. They look at the volatility in the crypto markets and they see it as a huge opportunity,” Barhydt stated. Nonetheless, the CEO remains bullish on virtual currency.

Search for Crypto Jobs Decline as Prices Fall: According to the employment search engine Indeed, in parallel with the decline of cryptocurrency prices, crypto-related job searches have decreased as well.  “Over the last year interest in cryptocurrency jobs on Indeed has risen strongly. However, in recent months the prices of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have been volatile and (in some cases) declining,” the company said. “Job seeker interest on Indeed for bitcoin and cryptocurrency jobs has fallen, too.” Although cryptocurrency and bitcoin job searches have declined, blockchain-related searches remain steady.