The market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has fallen to around $ 138.6bn , amid growing fears over regulatory scrutiny and a “ hard fork ” split for bitcoin cash . The drop is an 80 % fall from the $ 830bn valuation at the end of 2018 . The collapse follows news the bitcoin cash blockchain would split into two , an event which usually arises from disagreement over how a market should be designed to cope with higher trading volume . Additionally , the US Department of Justice is to investigate whether crypto traders used a token called tether along with the Bitfinex trading platform to prop - up bitcoin ’s value .
The market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies has fallen to around $138.6bn, amid investor fears over regulatory scrutiny and a “hard fork” split for bitcoin cash. The drop marks an 80% fall from the $830bn valuation at the beginning of 2018. The collapse follows news the bitcoin cash blockchain would split into two, an event which usually arises from disagreement over how a crypto should be scaled to cope with higher trading volume. Additionally, the US Department of Justice is to investigate whether crypto traders used a token called tether along with the Bitfinex trading platform to prop-up bitcoin’s price.