Bitcoin Price Falls to $4,000 amid Panic Sell after China ICO Ban

Bitcoin price has now dropped 20% toward $4,000, three days after hitting an unprecedented record high of $5,000 over the weekend.

The price of bitcoin hits a two-week low in a decline following China’s ban on initial coin offerings (ICOs), a radical new form of fundraising where digital tokens are exchanged for cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and Ethereum.

The early hours of Tuesday saw bitcoin value drop near $4,000, trading at figures unseen since August 22nd. At Bitstamp, bitcoin’s value dropped to $4001.9 during the fall while a global average between exchanges leveled around the $4,050 figure.

Chinese exchanges experienced more dramatic falls with trading on ‘big three’ exchange OKCoin falling to a low of CNY22,550, roughly $3,400.

Data from CoinmarketCap reveals a significant sell-off in multiple markets around the world

At the time of publishing, bitcoin prices are showing an upward recovery in trading above $4,300.

Over the last 24 hours, the Japanese market overtook China in trading activity with the latter currently seeing a small premium on prices. In China, bitcoin’s value is recovering but presents arbitrage opportunities to traders at $4,014, on average.

The drop-off comes amid a widespread market retreat as the combined market cap of cryptocurrencies drops to $145 billion, as China’s call to ban ICOs wipes out nearly $35 billion off the market from the all-time high of $179 billion on Saturday.

Featured image from Shutterstock.

Last modified: March 4, 2021 4:59 PM

Samburaj Das

Samburaj is Editor of CCN.com, one of the earliest and foremost publications covering blockchain, and financial technology news. Now focusing on Markets, Showbiz, Sports, and Gaming. He has authored over 2,000 articles for CCN.com. Reach him at samburaj@ccn.com. Visit his LinkedIn profile here.