Australia’s crypto stocks are getting beaten up after the value of Bitcoin dropped 16 per cent early Wednesday morning.
And the outlook for Thursday is grim after a further fall in value to $9200 early Thursday. The bitcoin price had recovered somewhat to $10,750 by 7.30am AEDT — but continued to swing wildly.
In a big turn around from Tuesday, only Kyckr (ASX:KYK) and the shell companies Zyber (ASX:ZYB) and Alchemia (ASX:ACL) were above water before midday on Wednesday.
Of the those that were flat, iCandy (ASX:ICI) and Byte Power (ASX:BPG) are still suspended from trading and Peppermint (ASX:PIL) and Transaction Solutions International (ASX:TSN) don’t have any blockchain or cryptocurrency-based operations — their involvement in the sector is purely speculation.
Of the 19 companies that have a real or imagined association with cryptocurrencies or blockchain software, 10 were in the red by midday.
| Ticker | Name | Price (Jan 16) | Price (Jan 17) | Price change (one day) | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| YOJ | Yojee | 28.5c | 26.5 | -0.07 | 220789792 |
| DCC | DigitalX | 38c | 34c | -0.11 | 182075200 |
| CCA | Change Financial | $1.07 | $1 | -0.07 | 89685840 |
| MBM | Mobecom | 38.5c | 36.5c | -0.05 | 67906648 |
| FFG | Fatfish Internet Group | 11c | 9.7c | -0.12 | 48494960 |
| NOV | Novatti Group | 34c | 34c | 0 | 46683488 |
| SHO | Sportshero | 18.5c | 18.5c | 0 | 41368084 |
| FGF | First Growth Funds | 3.8c | 3.5c | -0.08 | 32258920 |
| KYK | Kyckr | 24c | 25c | 0.04 | 28181724 |
| OOK | Ookami | 9.8c | 8.2c | -0.16 | 27785152 |
| TSN | Transaction Solutions International | 1.3c | 1.3c | 0 | 27638172 |
| BPG | Byte Power Group | 0.9c | 0.9c | 0 | 27585630 |
| RFN | Reffind | 4.2c | 3.8c | -0.1 | 24228500 |
| CHP | Chapmans | 1.8c | 1.2c | -0.11 | 22100002 |
| ZYB | Zyber Holdings | 3.6c | 3.8c | 0.06 | 21386594 |
| PIL | Peppermint Innovations | 2.2c | 2.2c | 0 | 20370880 |
| S3R | Serpentine Technologies | 1.3c | 1.2c | -0.08 | 8075046.5 |
| ACL | Alchemia | 1.3c | 1.4c | 0.08 | 4870854 |
| ICI | iCandy Interactive | 16c | 16c | 0 | $12,100,000 |
Cryptocurrencies around the world plummeted following news that the South Korean government may ban digital currency trading.
Bitcoin dropped 16.8 per cent to reach $US11,490. (It was down further at about $10,500 on Thursday morning).
Ethereum dumped 18.2 per cent to sit at just over $US1000. Ripple lost 28.8 per cent to reach $US1.18. And Bitcoin Cash fell 26.2 per cent to reach $US1772.
Finance minister Kim Dong-yeon later walked that back saying a ban was a “live option” but the government would need to seriously consider it before taking such a step.
The Chinese have already banned ICOs (Initial Coin Offers), and European countries and the US have moved to tighten rules around exchange platforms to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing.
According to Coinmarketcap, of the 1450 cryptocurrencies it follows only 91 are in the black over the last 24 hours.
The All Ordinaries was down 0.49 per cent at midday and the Small Ordinaries, which measures the stocks in the ASX300, was down 0.25 per cent.