Crypto app set to launch as market for digital currencies drops

A cryptocurrency app that allows users to store, transfer and exchange five major cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin and Ethereum, will soon be available for Apple and Android.

deVere Crypto, from deVere Group, will be available “in a matter of weeks,” says a company release.

Nigel Green, deVere Group’s CEO, says in the release that three trends support the rise of cryptocurrencies: tech advancement, political shifts and globalization.

For example, tech adoption is increasing, people want currencies not controlled by central banks, and trade and commerce crosses borders worldwide.

“Traditionalists who declare cryptocurrencies ‘a fad’ are akin to King Canute trying to command the tides of the sea to go back,” says Green.

Cryptocurrencies take a tumble

Bitcoin hasn’t yet caught on as a currency for buying things, but it has drawn huge interest from traders. Its price has soared over the past year—and has also had several sharp drops.

Bitcoin fell below US$10,000 Wednesday, extending a sell-off that has erased about half the digital currency’s value in one month. Other digital currencies fell sharply as well.

The price of one bitcoin went from US$1,000 at the beginning of last year to nearly US$20,000 in December. The latest plunge brings the price back to where it was in late November.

Many financial pros believe bitcoin is in a speculative bubble that could crash any time.

The possibility that South Korea will ban or restrict virtual currency trading has weighed on traders’ minds the last few weeks because the nation is a major market for currencies like bitcoin.

Those worries have also depressed the prices of other digital currencies that gained sharply in recent months.

Ethereum fell 17% Wednesday to US$867, according to Coindesk. That is still roughly double where it was in November, and down sharply from its recent peak of US$1,329 on Jan. 10.

Bitcoin and other digital currencies trade on private exchanges that have little regulation or protection for investors. In December two major financial exchanges, the Cboe and CME, started trading in bitcoin futures, which allow investors to make bets on the future price of bitcoin without actually holding bitcoins.

Read: Cryptocurrency futures are risky, says CSA

Bitcoin futures on both the Cboe and the CME fell about 10% Wednesday and hit their lowest levels since trading began last month.

Bitcoin is extremely hard to value because it has no country or central bank backing it, and it’s not widely used to make transactions. Its value is tied only to what people believe it’s worth at any given time.

Partly for that reason, it’s gone through numerous highs and lows in its brief history since being formed in 2009: after a plunge in November 2013, it lost about half its value in 2014. The huge rally in 2017 also came with some sharp sell-offs, although those wound up being temporary.

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