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Today on Altcoins This Week we comment on Bitmain and the massive amount they’re holding of Bitcoin Cash, we discuss the reason why Ethereum just suffered a major loss and more.

EU Publishes ICO Regulation Proposals

The European Union has published a draft proposal for new regulations to comprise crowdfunding activities, such as ICOs. The proposal was drafted by the European Parliament’s Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs, and will apply to ICOs that raise less than €8 million.

The proposals allow for revenue to be raised through cryptocurrencies, although caution is advised because crypto can, it says, be a source of “fraud and cybersecurity risk to investors”. The EU has been examining ways to regulate the ICO market since last year, but is yet to introduce any definitive guidelines on the matter.

Bitmain Holds 5% of All Bitcoin Cash

It’s been a difficult few weeks for Altcoins, with many major coins hitting their lowest price of 2018 in the past few days. Bitcoin Cash was no exception, trading for well under $500 this week. One major investor who will be watching the movements of Bitcoin Cash closely is Bitmain CEO Jihan Wu.

It has emerged that Bitmain is holding over 1 million BCH – that’s 5% of the total amount of Bitcoin Cash in circulation. The figure was leaked from Britain’s Pre IPO documents, and, if correct, could lead to accusations that the mining giant is engaged in price manipulation. Bitmain will soon embark on an $18 billion IPO, with Bitcoin Cash reserves forming a sizeable portion of the company’s stated valuation.

ICO Cash Out Blamed for Ether Meltdown

It has been called the Altcoin Apocalypse. Billions of dollars were wiped off the altcoin market on Monday, with some of the largest coins suffering losses of almost 20%. Ethereum was one of the biggest losers, dropping to its lowest price in over a year.

While there was no single event that triggered the meltdown, experts are pinning a large share of the blame on ICO’s that have launched on the Ethereum blockchain cashing out their Ethereum based tokens. Bloomberg reported that concerns over the current bear market is prompting cash-strapped ICO platforms to liquidate their tokens, leaving Ethereum exposed to further losses in the days and weeks ahead. Compounding matters is Ethereum’s scaling dilemma, with increasing concern that the network simply cannot cope with the pressures of mass adoption.

Markets – Altcoins All See Red In Monday Meltdown

President of US Bitcoin wallet platform Ted Rogers tweeted this week that “we could be in the middle of the extinction level event” for Altcoins, warning that 90% of all coins listed on CoinMarketCap would inevitably disappear sooner or later. While Altcoin investors will be hoping that Rogers is overstating this week’s market decline, there was very little good news this week for any of the Top 100 coins. In all, the cryptocurrency market lost 10% in one 24 hour period.

Ether (ETH) opened on Sunday at $320 but saw its value plummet to $284 on Monday in a sharp decline that affected the whole market. Tuesday saw no respite, with Ether dropping below $260 to trade at levels last seen before last winter’s bear run. XRP fared just as badly, and on Monday was down 90% on its peak price. It opened on Sunday at $0.30, but hit a low of $0.276 on Monday and then a new low of $0.25 on Tuesday. Bitcoin Cash (BCH)opened at $564 but was trading for below $530 on Monday and declined towards $485 on Tuesday. Stellar’s (XLM) decent July is all but forgotten, with the Altcoin opening on Sunday $0.218. It didn’t fall back as far as others on Monday but came perilously close to slipping below the twenty cent mark on Tuesday. EOS was not immune to the meltdown, its opening of $5.03 was followed by a sharp decline to $4.55 on Monday and then $4.27 on Tuesday. To see current prices click here.