Cryptocurrency prices: Bitcoin once again slips below $20,000

Bitcoin on Sunday, September 18, dropped 1.54 percent to $19,804, slipping from the 20,000 mark after losing $310 from its previous close.

The second largest virtual currency, Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, also dropped 3.2 percent to $1,422.1 on Sunday, losing $47 from its previous close.

Bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, is down 58.9 percent from the year’s high of $48,234 on March 28.

Bitcoin previously slid below $20,000 and Ethereum below $1,500 on Friday, September 16, amid largely negative trends in global markets. The fall came as EthereumPoW (ETHW) went live a day before.

The consensus layer of the Beacon Chain and execution layer of Ethereum's Mainnet merged at block 15537393 on September 15. The network will not rely on the proof-of-work consensus method anymore.