Sunday, June 10: crypto markets have seen a sharp drop today, in the wake of the news that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has launched a probe into four major crypto exchanges.

All of the top-100 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization are in the red over the 24 hours to press time, while total market capitalization is down by about $20 bln over the same period, according to Coinmarketcap.

Market visualization from Coin360

Bitcoin (BTC) has lost just shy of 5 percent of its value in the past 24 hours, currently trading at $7,244. The majority of the decline took place over a period of just 2 hours, earlier today.

Bitcoin price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Bitcoin Price Index

Ethereum (ETH) is revisiting its early June lows, having dipped below the $600 mark today. After losing around 6 percent in 24 hours to press time, the coin is trading at around $568.

Ethereum price chart. Source: Cointelegraph Ethereum Price Index

Total market capitalization is at $320 bln at press time. The market cap has declined by $120 bln over the past 30 days, constituting a value loss of about 26 percent.

Total market capitalization chart. Source: Coinmarketcap

Among the top ten cryptocurrencies by market capitalization, IOTA (MIOTA) and EOS have suffered the largest losses over the past 24 hours, according to Coinmarketcap. MIOTA is down 10 percent, trading at $1.50. EOS, which saw significant growth earlier this month, coinciding with the release of its EOSIO 1.0 software stack, has not been spared today either, losing 8 percent over the 24 hour period. It is now trading at $13.12.

The sharp decline in cryptocurrencies’ prices takes place in the wake of the news that the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has requested trading data from crypto exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, itBit and Kraken. These are respectively the 21st, 14th, 45th and 13th largest exchanges in the world by trade volume, according to Coinmarketcap.

Following the launch of Bitcoin futures trading by CME Group in December 2017, the four exchanges subpoenaed by the CFTC, have been providing price data for CME Group. The CFTC’s request is a part of an investigation into whether there is any activity taking place on these platforms that might constitute crypto price manipulation.

Bloomberg reported today that a South Korean crypto exchange Coinrail is reviewing its systems after a suspected hacking attempt. Coinrail has reportedly claimed that it managed to freeze the affected NPXS, NPER and ATX coins. However, this event is unlikely to have significantly impacted the price action on the markets, with Coinmarketcap data showing that Coinrail is the 99th largest crypto exchange, with a trading volume of “just” about $2,5 mln.

Entrepreneur and Bitcoin evangelist Alistair Milne tweeted a poll today, asking his followers what is the reason for the crypto markets’ sharp drop. Milne’s seeming implication that the fall is not related to either the CFTC’s data request or the Coinrail hack was met with approval by the crypto community, with “Aliens” being by far the most popular version, followed by “Crypto iz ded.”