Cryptocurrency markets have stabilized with most of the major digital coin prices, including Bitcoin (BTC), trading up or down less than 1% on a 24-hour chart. Regardless of the current stability, there are some major events around the corner that will likely result in continued volatility.
The current flattening has followed a massive price decline, where BTC fell from its weekly highs of just under US$7,400 to its weekly low of around US$6,000. As usual, this decline resulted in a significant drop for alt-coins, many of which fell 10 to 20%, and are now resting near their year-to-date lows. Ethereum (ETH) fell from its weekly high of nearly US$290 to a current low of around US$195.
Tuesday’s slide took the market cap of the second-largest digital currency below US$20 billion, to $18.9 billion, according to data from Einstein Exchange.
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In other news, the New York Department of Financial Services approved a stablecoin proposed by twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss. Called the Gemini dollar, it will be backed by U.S. dollars held at State Street Bank.
Elsewhere, banking giant Citigroup has come up with a new way of speculating on alternative coins without actually owning them. The bank has created a Digital Asset Receipts, or DARs, which represent a call on a virtual coin held by a custodian. The company hopes that DARs will provide a less risky method for financial institutions and clients to invest in crypto.
