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<!-- End of Brightcove iframe Player --></section><section class="text-description"><p>The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap has suffered new losses today in a morning where all the major cryptos are in the red.</p><p>ETH dropped down to $851.05 today, a loss of 5.04 percent, as of 9am on February 22.</p><p>The market cap currently stands at $83.2 billion and some $2.2 billion was traded on exchanges over the past 24 hours.</p><p>But why has the token fallen into the red today, February 21?</p></section><section class="text-description"><h3>Why is Ethereum dropping today?</h3><p>The cryptocurrency largely held steady at around the $900 mark in February, apart from a drop to $585 on Feb 6 - recovering the following day.</p><p>But today <a href="/latest/Ethereum" rel="tag" target="_blank">Ethereum</a> dropped below the $900 mark again as all other cryptos also recorded losses.</p><p>Ripple’s price dropped to £1.06 today, as of 8.20am on February 21, down 7.69 percent.</p><p>Bitcoin was also down by -2.85 percent, recording a price of $11,175.70.</p></section><section class="text-description"><script src="https://files.coinmarketcap.com/static/widget/currency.js" type="text/javascript"></script><div class="coinmarketcap-currency-widget" data-base="USD" data-currency="ethereum" data-secondary="BTC"></div></section><section class="text-description"><p>It is currently unclear why the cryptos have suffered losses today, but market volatility is high in the cryptocurrency world.</p><p>Today’s dip comes after President Nicolas Maduro revealed Venezuela had received $735 million in the first day of a pre-sale of the country's "petro" cryptocurrency.</p><p>Aimed at pulling the country out of an economic tailspin, the government is developing what is being described as an Ethereum-based token, called the Petro.</p><p>Dr Daniele Bianchi told Express.co.uk that, just like an Initial Coin Offering (ICO), the Petro will be introduced through a pre-sale which will offer the new cryptocurrency at a discount.</p><p>Mr Bianchi says that, rather than a cryptocurrency, the Petro is really an Ethereum-based token like many others being seen in the ICO eco-system. </p></section><br><h2>Follow @davidlanz for real-time crypto news!<h2>