Ripple slumps 7% to below $0.5 amid crypto selloff

Ripple fell nearly seven percent, or $0.04 on Friday to April 10 lows as crypto assets face a hefty selloff after the Financial Services Committee in US House of Representatives warned that cryptocurrencies are being increasingly used in illegal activities. 

As of 06:39 GMT, ripple tumbled 6.97% to $0.4970 from the opening of $0.53411, with an intraday high at $0.53509, and a ten-week low at $0.4850, with ripple's market value now falling to $49.3 billion. 

The Financial Services Committee in US House of Representatives stated earlier that it's monitoring increased use of cryptocurrencies in money laundering, terrorism funding, and the drug trade, rekindling concerns of new US regulatory limitations. 

Already, the House of Representatives' Ethics Committee urged all members to disclose all crypto investments above a thousand dollars starting June 18, with all deals to be reported within 45 days. 

Ripple was first launched on March 7, 2015, to start trading at $0.015, with the virtual currency losing nearly two thirds of its value by early 2016 to $0.0059, before rising 5% during 2016 to $0.0063, and then skyrocketing 28,000% to $1.748 by the end of 2017, before marking unprecedented highs in January at $3.30, then losing 85% of value rapidly in the last few months, and closing the first quarter of the year below $0.5.