The price of bitcoin recovered slightly Sunday after dropping to its lowest price since June, but other cryptocurrencies continue to struggle — and now the co-founder of Ethereum says that the days of massive crypto growth are over.

Bitcoin along with other cryptocurrencies crashed on Sept. 5 after it was reported that Goldman Sachs Group Inc. has abandoned plans to establish a bitcoin trading desk. A considerable number of people holding bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies were betting that Goldman Sachs would launch a bitcoin desk and thus spark more demand for cryptocurrencies from institutional investors, raising prices.

A day later, a Goldman Sachs spokesperson went as far as calling the report “fake news” by partially claiming that news that the merchant bank was going to set up a bitcoin desk was false to begin with.

Bitcoin was trading at $6,474.26 as of 8:50 p.m. EDT. Sept. 6, but there was more to come, with its price falling to $6,159.25 early Sunday before bouncing back to $6,309 as of 10:40 p.m.

Other cryptocurrencies tend to reflect bitcoin’s movements and there had been a small recovery as of Sunday, but the overall trend is still down. As of today, a bitcoin price chart looks like a rollercoaster, while the Ethereum chart looks like a long, downward slope.

Ethereum’s slide in particular hasn’t gone unnoticed. CNBC reported Sept. 6 that the crypto is down 76 percent this year and it continues to underperform compared to bitcoin.

Adding to the concern is Vitalik Buterin, the co-creator of Ethereum, who told Bloomberg that the days of explosive growth in the blockchain industry have likely come and gone.

“The blockchain space is getting to the point where there’s a ceiling in sight,” Buterin said. “If you talk to the average educated person at this point, they probably have heard of blockchain at least once. There isn’t an opportunity for yet another 1,000-times growth in anything in the space anymore.”

Buterin wasn’t entirely negative. He noted that even if the strategy of promoting blockchain technology and cryptocurrencies to consumers is hitting a dead end, it’s time to improve the infrastructure of decentralized systems, applications and protocols to encourage consumers to commit to blockchain-based platforms.

Ethereum was trading at $200.98 as of 10:40 p.m. EDT after bottoming out as $188.20, but that was barely a blip to its overall trend and it’s at its lowest price since June 2017. At its peak in January, Ethereum was trading at $1,297.96.

Photo: Pixabay