IOTA, the tenth largest cryptocurrency by market cap, has lost a third of its value over the past seven days after a string of controversies pointed to internal divisions and unethical practices at the Berlin-based Foundation. Bloodshed in the broader cryptocurrency market has hastened its decline with bitcoin and the majors on track for double-digit losses.
MIOTA Price Update
IOTA’s native currency MIOTA is down almost 23% at the time of writing, far outpacing the broader market’s 14% slump. The MIOTA price is currently trading at $0.615, according to CoinMarketCap, its lowest since November.
Trade volumes have more than doubled from a week ago to average $74.2 million on Wednesday. Bitfinex accounted for more than 40% of the daily turnover while Binance processed nearly 30% of total trades.
IOTA’s rapid depreciation renders the technical charts virtually obsolete in explaining the coin’s short-term trajectory. However, the massive selloff has raised red flags over possible price manipulation at the hands of Bitfinex traders. As CCN reports, the MIOTA token is priced significantly lower on Bitfinex than on other major exchanges.
Failed Partnership, Internal Strife
IOTA has been in the headlines for all the wrong reasons lately after Sirin Labs, the creator of the blockchain smartphone Finney, announced it would not pursue a partnership with the company.
The original Finney whitepaper said the smartphone’s operating system will be developed using IOTA’s Tangle blockchain. Sirin Labs’ CEO Moshe Hogeg told media that his company has “decided to go in a different direction.”
Evidence of internal strife at the IOTA Foundation has also come to light following the release of a leaked chat log between project co-founders Sergey Ivancheglo and Dominik Schiener.
“I inform everyone that I [no] longer trust Dominik Schiener and I think he should quit the IOTA Foundation for the better future of IOTA,” Ivancheglo said, as per the transcript.
Although it is not entirely clear why Ivancheglo wants to oust his partner, the chat log reveals a lengthy discussion about how Schiener will be replaced.
This isn’t the first time the IOTA Foundation has been the center of controversy. Back in April, co-founder David Sønstebø accused former employee Per Lind of using the company brand for personal gains. He even went as far as calling Lind a “charlatan” who “couldn’t handle a calculator if his life depended on it.
Disclaimer: The author owns bitcoin, Ethereum and other cryptocurrencies. He holds investment positions in the coins, but does not engage in short-term or day-trading.
Featured image courtesy of Shutterstock.
