Investing.com – Bitcoin fell on Tuesday for the second day in a row as investor demand for the popular digital currency waned in favour of its less illustrious rivals.
On the U.S.-based Bitfinex exchange, bitcoin fell to $17,600, down $1405.0, or 7.48%, well below its recent all-time high of $19,891. The popular digital currency's market cap fell to $301.77 billion.
The slump in bitcoin comes as investors appear to be losing hope that the launch of bitcoin futures on the both the CME group and CBOE exchanges would usher in a period of institutional demand, establishing bitcoin as an established asset class. Bitcoin futures debuted on CME, the world's biggest exchange operator, but investor uptake was tepid.
Others have noted, however, that year-end profit taking was adding downside pressure on bitcoin, as investors seek to lock in gains on an impressive rally which has seen the popular digital currency soar more 1700% since the start of the year, outpacing the returns of the traditional benchmarks like the S&P 500.
Bitcoin’s main rivals were the beneficiaries of its slump as bitcoin cash rose 17.51% to $2,527, while ripple XRP struggled to pare losses falling 0.84% to $0.75179.
Ethereum, the second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, rose 4.16% to $819.34, just shy of its record highs of $863 set earlier in the session. Ethereum has surged recently amid reports that Swiss banking giant UBS would lead an Ethereum-based blockchain platform.