Vertcoin’s (VTC) price decline continues, setting fresh 5-month lows.

VTC is trading at 0.354 mBTC on Cryptsy, its primary venue for exchange. Based on the current bitcoin exchange rate, one VTC is worth $0.22. Its market cap is $1.38 million, ranking it 30th amongst all cryptocurrencies.

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VTC has been caught in a vicious cycle of decline since briefly peaking at 2.87 mBTC in mid-May. At the time, several new products and features were slated for launch. Its total valuation reaching $5.6 million, it made its way into the top 15 in market cap.

Its post-May doldrums pale in comparison to its precipitous decline from the altcoin-craze peaks of late January-early February. At the time, it traded for 7.92 mBTC for a total value of $10 million. This came after staggering gains of over 20-fold during a 4-day period. Since then, it has shed more than 95% (in BTC terms) and is danger of breaching the psychologically-important $1 million threshold.

Community investors are growing desperate for answers, while at the same time walking the fine line of reassuring colleagues that they are still believers- and that it’s not just about price. Early days of Litecoin’s trading in the $0.10-0.30 range are evoked. One reddit commenter shared his account:

“I just want to state – I’ve lost thousands of dollars. Several. And it was incredibly hard earned money. It was lost because I believe in decentralized currency and put it in Vert. Litecoin and bitcoin are moving TOWARDS centralization.”

He goes on to express regrets for not having followed through with his original plan to invest 50% in Darkcoin and 50% in VTC. Had he done so, he’d now have $35k-$40k.

Vertcoin aims to achieve the elusive goal of ASIC-resistance, whereby the coin’s algorithm prevents the domination of mining power/rewards by single miners using chips customized for mining.