Investing.com - Bitcoin struggled for direction on Wednesday, as cryptocurrencies attempt to recover from a bearish rut.
Bitcoin was trading at $6,379.80, inching up 0.02% on the Bitfinex exchange, as of 9:06 AM ET (13:06 GMT) but still remained near a nine-day low. Bitcoin has struggled to gain ground in recent months, falling nearly 70% since its peak of almost $20,000 in December.
Cryptocurrencies overall were modestly higher but still remained near a one-and-a-half week-low. The coin market cap of total market capitalization was up at $254 billion at the time of writing compared to $253 billion on Tuesday.
Ethereum rose 1.50% to $442.76 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third largest virtual currency, increased 0.21% to $0.44940 while Litecoin was at $70.070, up 4.65%.
Blockchain and cryptocurrency funds have lost nearly 50% in the first half of the year, according to the HFR Cryptocurrency Index. The hedge fund research firm’s virtual coin index fell nearly 23% in June alone, while its blockchain index was down 22%.
Meanwhile in the Philippines, three exchanges were given provisional licenses to operate. All three are based in other countries, including two in Hong Kong and one in Thailand. The firms have committed to investing $1 million each in the Philippines.
In other news, more than half of digital coin startups fail within four months of their initial coin offerings (ICO), a study from Boston College found. The report also found that traders make the most if they sell out within the first six months of the ICO.
"While our results could be an indication of bubbles, they are also consistent with high compensation for risk for investing in unproven pre-revenue platforms through unregulated offerings," Boston College researchers Hugo Benedetti and Leonard Kostovetsky said.