Motley Fool Australia » Investing » Crypto update: Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP) recover

Cryptocurrency traders can breathe a sigh of relief this morning after bitcoin (BTC) and many of the leading altcoins recovered from earlier declines.

At one stage the BTC price had fallen through the US$10,000 mark again, sinking as low as US$9,972 per coin.

But it has since recovered almost 10% from its daily low and is now fetching US$11,115 per coin, according to Coin Market Cap. This has left the world’s largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalisation of US$187 billion.

Elsewhere, Ethereum (ETH) has climbed almost 4% over the last 24 hours to reach US$999. ETH now has a market capitalisation of US$97 billion.

The Ripple (XRP) price was the most improved major cryptocurrency during the last 24 hours, rising close to 14% to US$1.37. This leaves XRP with a market capitalisation of US$53.2 billion.

There were solid gains also for the Bitcoin Cash (BCH) price over the last 24 hours. The bitcoin spin-off rose over 7% during the period to reach US$1,671, giving it a market capitalisation of US$28.1 billion.

While this is great news for traders, it is still way off its highs. Just over a month ago BCH was commanding a price of US$4,138 per coin.

Finally, the fifth-largest cryptocurrency, Cardano (ADA), has increased 7% since this time yesterday to 58 U.S. cents. The underworld favourite has a market capitalisation of US$15 billion.

While it is unclear why cryptocurrencies recovered, the earlier declines are believed to be the result of the South Korean crackdown.

On Tuesday regulators in South Korea announced plans to ban anonymous trading accounts on January 30 in a bid to prevent cryptocurrency-related money laundering. This is likely to be the first of many moves by regulators to control supposedly decentralised cryptocurrencies.

Which I think is likely to mean a lot more volatility in the coming weeks and months.