Investing.com – Cryptocurrency prices continued to fall on Thursday on news that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) delayed a decision on the listing of a Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Bitcoin was down 4.4% to $6,315.8 at 12:30AM ET (04:30 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ethereum fell 4.6% to $360.1 on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ripple lost 4.6% to $0.34526 in the last 24 hours on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin plunged 7% to $62.743.
Following yesterday’s selloff, the market value of cryptocurrencies has fallen to about $230billion, the lowest level since November 2017, data from Coinmarketcap revealed.
The industry lost about $600 billion since its peak in January, Coinmarket said.
Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrency prices plunged on Wednesday following SEC’s announcement to postpone the decision on whether to allow the fund from VanEck Associates Corp and Solid Partners Inc to list by the end of September. An initial deadline was due to expire next week.
The news dealt a huge blow to crypto traders, who had previously hoped the proposals from VanEck was more likely to be approved as it has plans for a higher minimum share price that some believe would discourage retail investors and insurance, according to Bloomberg.
In other news, initial coin offerings (ICOs) are becoming less popular as regulatory scrutiny intensifies, reports on Thursday suggested.
While initial coin offerings have raised $18 billion for blockchain startups so far in 2018, which was five times of last year’s total, CoinSchedule suggested that the number has surged only because of blockbuster sales that targeted particular wealthy investors.
The article argued that many startups are finding it easier to raise money from private investors, as global regulators became more vigilant about policing fraud in ICOs and the evasion of registration requirements for securities offerings.