Bitcoin drops below $10K after three days of cryptocurrency correction

According to crypto exchange coinmarketcap.com, other major virtual currencies ethereum, ripple and bitcoin cash, a clone which split from the original previous year, posted double-digit losses by early afternoon.

Bitcoin continued its downward spiral and fell 11.64% on Wednesday and traded at $10,784.

The sell-off was reportedly triggered by worries over tighter regulation in the key markets of South Korea and China. Shutting down digital currency exchanges is “a live option but government ministries need to very seriously review it”, he added.

At the North American Bitcoin Conference in Miami, investors and executives interviewed by Reuters were unfazed by government moves to further regulate cryptocurrencies, which have sent prices into a tailspin. Such a ban would require a majority vote from the country’s National Assembly, which the Evening Standard reports could take months or possibly years. Other ministers within the government later softened their stance. The digital currency has gained 69.2% in the past 24 hours, according to Coinmarketprice.

Traders holding cryptocurrencies must decide whether to quit the Bitcoin, according to the analysts.

The possibility that South Korea will ban or restrict virtual currency trading has weighed on traders’ minds the last few weeks because the nation is a major market for currencies like bitcoin.

Bitcoin, which enjoyed first-mover advantage and remains the poster child of crypto, peaked at $20,042.90 on 17 December and dipped as low as $9,402.29 yesterday, which equates to a fall of 53.1%.

South Korean financial authorities announced on January 16 that cryptocurrency investors using anonymous virtual accounts would be fined. College students also form a big portion of bitcoin investors, seeing such trade as an easier way of making money than getting a well-paid job.

Charles Hayter, founder of Cryptocompare, said: “There is a lot of panic in the market”. In particular, local and federal authorities should block user access to Chinese and foreign sites and mobile apps that allow cryptocurrency trading.

The Russian premier Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that while the Russian Central Bank now has sufficient powers, that “in broad terms, legislative regulation will be definitely required in future”.