Investing.com - Most cryptocurrencies have been struggling to recover from the market-wide selloff in late January, but NEM's XEM token has been sinking since the start of the new year.
The XEM, the second-best performing currency in 2017, has fallen from almost $2.00 to about 30 cents. What was once the fifth largest currency by market capitalization is now the 13th.
Some market watchers consider the XEM's stunning rise and fall a classic example of the pump and dump trading scheme. That may be, but it also appears to be the victim of bad publicity.
NEM's XEM happened to be the cryptocurrency involved when hackers stole $534 million from the Japanese exchange Coincheck on January 26th.
Then, there was the misperception in February that NEM was involved in the Venezuelan government's dubious launch of its cryptocurrency called the petro. Prior to those events, NEM's blockchain had been recognized as one allowing a wide range of customization, making it attractive to both industries and institutions looking to create smart assets and then track them