Bitcoin price dropped to a 2018-low during Tuesday’s morning trading (GMT), losing over $2,300 (Bitfinex) in a 17% fall in just under 3 hours.
Dampened by regulatory scrutiny in Korea, home to one of the world’s biggest crypto markets, bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies continued their descent today. After opening Tuesday’s trading near $13,500 on USD-based Bitfinex, bitcoin price settled at $13,200 at 07:00 (GMT) before a collapse that led the world’s first cryptocurrency drop to a low of $10,891 near 10:00 AM.
At the time of publishing, bitcoin price is showing signs of a recovery in trading near $12,000.
Coinciding with Korea’s regulatory squeeze, multiple reports today have also pointed to a senior Chinese central bank official proposing a wider ban on cryptocurrency trading that would extend to both domestic and offshore trading platforms. The call for a ban includes cryptocurrency services such as mobile wallet apps and clearing and settlement providers in an effort to censor Chinese citizens from trading in cryptocurrencies.
Negating a momentary flash crash on December 23, today’s low is closer to bitcoin’s trading value in the first week of December when the cryptocurrency rode a wave of momentum to hit an all-time high near $20,000, nearly a month ago to the day.
At the time, markets were buoyed by the impending launch of bitcoin futures contracts by Chicago-based operators CBOE and the CME Group – signaling a trend of anticipation of Wall Street whales to get into the cryptocurrency ecosystem.
Bitcoin’s drop mirrors wider losses across the cryptocurrency market with nearly $147 billion wiped off since the turn of the day.
Click here for a real-time bitcoin price chart.
Featured image from Shutterstock.
