Bitcoin’s price has plunged again after reports that China had committed once more to launch a crackdown on cryptocurrency.
In the space of five minutes, the price of bitcoin lost more than 6 per cent and appeared to be continuing to fall. Other large cryptocurrencies, such as Ethereum, were hit by similarly sudden and significant drops.
The latest drop took it back down towards the lows it had approached in the wake of another report from China, earlier this week, that suggested authorities would be launching new regulation of cryptocurrencies.
Over the course of the week, bitcoin has now lost some 25 per cent of its value, amid concerns about new regulation – not only in China but elsewhere too.
The losses have been even more dramatic in some of the smaller coins. Ethereum has lost almost 40 per cent, and dogecoin is down by a third.
The latest drop came amid reports that Chinese vice-premier Liu He had reiterated that the country planned to crack down on both bitcoin mining and trading.
His comments followed statements from three state-backed organisations, earlier this week, that warned that digital currencies were not “real”, should not be used for purchases, and could face further regulatory changes from banks and other authorities.
The threatened crackdown also came amid a government report in Hong Kong that indicated that cryptocurrency exchanges will have to be licenced by its markets regulator and that only professional investors should be able to use them.
Source: independent.co.uk