Cryptocurrency market cap shrinks to $186 billion

The collective market cap of all cryptocurrencies has plunged to $186 billion on Wednesday — its lowest level this year, and the lowest it’s been since Novermber 2017. 

It’s a long, painful drop for the crypto market from its January peak of $831 billion, and while everything’s possible in crypto, currently there’s no end in sight. 

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, is actually holding up well, with a price of $6,281 at writing time, representing a 1.91% loss in the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap. This is also a long way from its January peak of over $19,800, but Bitcoin has stubbornly refused to go below $6,000 this year, bouncing back up from that level on several occasions. 

But other cryptocurrencies, most notably Ethereum, the second-largest coin by market cap, are losing value at a tremendous pace. At $172, down 11.6% in the last 24 hours, Ethereum has reached a new bottom this year. Just one month ago, the price of one ETH was nearly double;…