If you've invested heavily in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum over the past year, you probably need a stiff drink right about now. The cryptocurrency "boom" is no more, and values are heading south, much to the chagrin of crypto miners that thought mining with off-the-shelf [ and custom ] hardware would bring them digital fortunes.

Take Bitcoin, for example; the cryptocurrency fell to as little as $5,900 in the past 24 hours before rebounding to just over 6,000 as of this writing. As recently as May, Bitcoin was trading at around $10,000 and in late 2017, it was topping $19,000. In total, Bitcoin is down 68 percent from its meteoric high.





Things are looking worse over in Ethereum land. Ethereum just crashed to a 9-month low, as it settles down around $256. Ethereum surpassed $1,200 in January before going on a wild rollercoaster ride through early May. Since then, it's been all downhill for the cryptocurrency.

“Most cryptocurrencies have been overvalued for a very long time,” said Blockstream Corp. Chief Strategy Officer Samson Mow in an interview with Bloomberg.

As a whole, Ethereum has fared much worse than Bitcoin in this cryptocurrency downturn. According to Coinmarketcap.com, Ethereum was in a much stronger position around this time last year with a 32 percent share of the entire cryptocurrency market cap. At the time, Bitcoin was barely ahead at 39 percent. Today, however, Ethereum has fallen on hard times, carrying a market cap of just 14 percent compared to Bitcoin's 54 percent.

This volatility comes at a time when exchanges like Coinbase are increasingly looking to legitimize cryptocurrencies. Coinbase recently hired veteran finance executive Jeff Horowitz to serve as its chief compliance officer. "Hiring Jeff is recognition on our part that navigating compliance complexities on a global scale requires a concerted, cross-functional effort, guided by leaders with experience that spans policy, financial services, and corporate governance," said the Coinbase at the time of Horowitz's hiring.

The cryptocurrency implosion has had at least one positive consequence for gaming enthusiasts: pricing for mainstream NVIDIA and AMD graphics cards have finally fallen down to reasonable levels after months in the stratosphere due to demand from crypto miners.