Ethereum price crash: Cryptocurrency falls below $170

Vitalik Buterin, the
founder of ethereum.
Getty/John
Phillips

Cryptocurrency ethereum crashed by over 8% on Wednesday,
extending a slump for the asset and the wider market.

Ethereum
is down 8.6% to $169.12 at just after 9.30 a.m. GMT (4.30
a.m. ET), a level not seen since May 2017 when ethereum was
enjoying its first price surge of the year.

The cryptocurrency is down almost 30% over the last 7 days and
has mirrored a wider slump in the cryptocurrency market over the
last two weeks.

News flow in the sector continues on a largely negative trend.
The latest blow for the sector is news that
a US judge ruled on Tuesday that US securities laws apply to
cryptocurrencies, which opens the way for a wave of
potentially costly and distracting litigation in the sector.

While the entire cryptocurrency sector has been under pressure
over the last few weeks and Mati Greenspan, an analyst with eToro
who follows the sector, told Business Insider: “It’s just
following the same trend.”

He added: “I think Vitalik [Buterin, the founder of ethereum]’s
comments the other day probably had something to do with this. He
said the days of 1,000X growth are probably over. The fact that
he’s less bullish on the price movement could cause some people
to be selling off a bit. And discussions as to how to scale the
network are ongoing.”

Charles Hayter, the CEO and founder of CryptoCompare.com, told
Business Insider: “It’s a continuation of the story that ICO’s
are selling their raised funds which are adding to downward
pressure. This has spooked the market and turned the dial up on
the negative sentiment.”

Elsewhere, other cryptocurrencies are under pressure on Wednesday
morning:

Get the latest Bitcoin price here.>>