Morning Report: Cryptos Take A $14B Breather Following Highs

Morning Report: The hype is still hot, but cryptos are taking a breather. A more than ten billion dollar breather.

From their market cap highs set last Wednesday, cryptocurrencies are off more than 15 percent. The dip comes after a historic run that drew ample media attention, fresh tracts extolling the future of the crypto market, and encouraged true believers.

The aggregate value of all bitcoin, litecoin, ripple, and ethereum, along with hundreds of smaller coins, reached more than $91 billion last week, according to CoinMarketCap. Today, the sum is a more modest $76.95 billion. The 15.6 percent decline works out to more than $14 billion in erased value.

Sticking close to CoinMarketCap’s dataset, here’s the year-to-date chart, with patented Crunchbase News technical analysis for you trading fanatics:

We are back in a bitcoin boom. You can tell because people are tweeting out adorable notes discussing how if you had only invested $1,000 in this crypto or another back when it was 19 minutes old, you would have several quadrillion dollars today. And you can see how likely and practical a trade like that is by the sheer number of new and liquid billionaires dancing around the crypto space.

Sarcasm aside, you and I do not know how long the current bitcoin bull cycle will last. There will be a correction, if this isn’t it, that will implode the weak and kneecap the strong. Just like the last time. But the true believers were right after the last bust, to their credit, that we’d be back here again.

We’ll bring you any big news from the space. For now, remember a 401k doesn’t make you boring and saving money the normal way still works.

From the Crunchbase Daily:

Android creator unveils Essential phone

• Android creator Andy Rubin has a startup, Essential, that just unveiled a sleek new smartphone featuring an edge-to-edge display, pared-down interface, and a ceramic and titanium shell. It will retail for $700.

Swiggy raises $80M

• Swiggy, the India-based food delivery service, has raised $80 million in a Series E funding round led by Naspers. It’s the second big food delivery funding round this month for Naspers, which also just backed a $420 million investment in Germany’s Delivery Hero.

Startups carve out new niches in on-demand space

• When people think of the on-demand space, they usually envision companies that deliver things. But a growing segment of startups is also focused on picking up and returning stuff like laundry or storage items. Crunchbase News takes a look at some of the standouts in this category.

Alfa shares pop in London IPO

• Shares of Alfa Financial Software traded up more than 30 percent last Friday after the financial services tech shop went public on the London Stock Exchange.