Bitcoin, Ether lead digital currency slide from highs

Last week, Bitcoin declined as much as 17%, while smaller competitor ether continued to slide after experiencing a ‘flash crash’, raising concern about mainstream acceptance of the digital currencies. Bitcoin slumped to as low as $2,449.4 in intraday trading. Ether, the virtual currency based on the ethereum blockchain, plunged to $250.5. And ripple, the third-largest digital currency based on market cap dropped to $0.3, according to prices compiled by Coinmarketcap.com and Coindesk.com. 

The two biggest digital currencies have still surged in value this year. Ether started the year around $8, meaning even with its current drop, the price has doubled many times over. Bitcoin has advanced about 150% year to date. The steeper decline in ether than bitcoin means ether’s market cap at $25 billion is now just about 60% of bitcoin’s, down from about 80%, when ether climbed over $400 two weeks ago. The rapid growth of the ethereum network had prompted speculation that ether would overtake bitcoin to become the biggest cryptocurrency as soon as this year, a phenomenon known as the flippening.

Sources :Bloomberg, coinmarketcap.com,coindesk.com