Yesterday, Bitcoin lost 10% of its value in one trading session, but investors were convinced it was just the prelude to a rally. If it is, the prelude isn’t done yet; trading in Bitcoin today saw the cryptocurrency in freefall, and it’s officially lost half of its value from its December high point.
Granted, this isn’t the first time Bitcoin has taken its investors for a gut-wrenching ride, but according to Fortune, the slide was hard, fast, and ugly:
The price of bitcoin, the world’s biggest and best known cryptocurrency, fell to as low as $10,0000 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, the lowest since Dec. 1. Bitcoin touched a peak of almost $20,000 in December — and indeed crossed over that threshold on some exchanges — but has since been roiled by several large sell-offs.
What has the cryptocurrency markets nervous is what appears to be an incipient crackdown on the part of both China and South Korea, which will both drive up the cost of mining and making transactions in Bitcoin, and may also set the stage for a wider regulatory response to cryptocurrencies in general. Considering some of the bad actors involved in the market, from racist hate groups to North Korea, regulation of some sort was inevitable, but the market appears to be losing steam amid the uncertainty of what shape that regulation will take and whether it will be a full crackdown or just a more detailed take. Either way, being a roller coaster is built into Bitcoin’s very code, so the ride isn’t over yet.
(via Fortune)