Cryptocurrencies have seen explosive growth in recent years, with values soaring and falling rapidly. In this article, we’ll take a look at some of the most highly volatile cryptocurrencies – and see what factors could lead to their values continuing to fluctuate wildly.
1. Bitcoin
One of the most popular and highly volatile cryptocurrencies is Bitcoin. Bitcoin is unique in that there are a finite number of them: 21 million. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment.
In 2017, it saw a huge surge in price, reaching $19,000 per coin. However, since then it has experienced a dramatic fall in value, with prices currently hovering around $6,000 per coin. This volatility is likely to continue in the years to come as Bitcoin remains the most prominent cryptocurrency and is still seen as a safe investment option by some.
2. Ethereum
Since the beginning of 2018, Ethereum has been one of the most volatile cryptocurrencies. Its price has gone from $1,200 to as low as $430 in less than a month. Meanwhile, Bitcoin has remained relatively stable at around $11,000.
What is causing these dramatic changes in prices? There are a few factors at play. First and foremost is Ethereum’s popularity as an initial coin offering (ICO) platform. ICOs are a new way for companies to raise money by issuing their own digital tokens. Over the past year, there have been dozens of successful Ethereum-based ICOs, raising more than $2 billion. This influx of capital has caused the price of Ethereum to skyrocket.
Another reason for Ethereum’s volatility is its overall supply. The total number of ETH available will be capped at 21 million coins, whereas Bitcoin will have a circulating supply that will never be capped. This means that as more people want to buy ETH, the price goes up (and down).
Overall though, it’s difficult to say why Ethereum prices are changing so much. One thing we can be sure of is that if you’re invested in cryptocurrencies, it’s important to stay informed about what’s happening with each one so you can make sound decisions about how to invest your money.
3. Ripple (XRP)
XRP is one of the most volatile cryptocurrencies on the market, with swings of over 90% in just a day. What’s behind this extreme volatility? Ripple experienced a 700% increase in value from 2016 to 2017. However, its price plummeted by 50% after the SEC announced that it was investigating the company for possible fraud.
Ripple was founded in 2012 by Jed McCaleb, who also created Mt Gox, one of the world’s biggest bitcoin exchanges. In 2017, McCaleb left Ripple and handed management of the company over to Brad Garlinghouse, who had previously been the CEO of JoyToken, an altcoin that was later acquired by Ripple.
The price of XRP rose sharply in early January 2018 due to rumors that Stellar Lumens (XLM) – another digital currency – would be added to Coinbase, one of the most popular platforms for buying and selling cryptocurrencies. XLM was not added to Coinbase, but this news nevertheless caused XRP prices to spike by more than 50%.
However, on January 26th, 2018 XRP prices plummeted after CoinMarketCap removed XRP from its list of cryptocurrencies because it claimed that there was no active market for XRP at that time. This caused many people who had investments in XRP to lose their money. In total, XRP prices dropped by about 60% in just a few days.
Ripple (XRP) is one such cryptocurrency that has seen its price fluctuate a great deal. It currently stands at $0.49, but it has ranged from as low as $0.30 to as high as $3.00 in the past few months! One reason for this volatility is that XRP is not regulated by any governing body, which means there is little to no transparency about it.
Many experts are predicting that these cryptocurrencies will become more mainstream in the next few years as they continue to gain popularity due to their unique features. While it can be difficult to predict which cryptocurrencies will experience the most volatility, learning about them and investing accordingly can help you reap the benefits of their volatile prices.
