The Bitcoin rollercoaster is going down again
It's been an exciting weekend in the world of cryptocurrencies. On Friday, Bitcoin and all other major coins plummeted double digits according to CoinMarketCap, following an onslaught of bad news about stricter regulations, grim predictions and nasty scams. Then, after reaching a low of roughly $7,800, Bitcoin rebounded and other coins followed; on Sunday, Bitcoin was trading at over $9,300, and the total cryptocurrency market cap was more than $450 billion again.
But come Monday and Bitcoin is testing new lows. It is currently trading at $7,762, down 11.3 percent in the last 24 hours. The second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, Ethereum, is down 12.5 percent and is trading at $781, and the third, Ripple, is down 13 percent and is trading at $0.77 per coin.
The price movement is likely the result of the bad news that's been mounting for months. But the week started with more cryptocurrency FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt). On Monday, the South China Morning Post quoted Financial News, a publication affiliated to the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), which said China will take additional steps to ban cryptocurrency trading in the country.
“To prevent financial risks, China will step up measures to remove any onshore or offshore platforms related to virtual currency trading or ICOs,” the Financial News wrote.
In September last year, China banned crypto trading, but many traders found ways to circumvent the measure, either trading OTC (over the counter) through social media platforms or through overseas platforms.
And over the weekend numerous banks -- including Lloyds Banking Group, Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, Capital One, and Discover -- have made it impossible to purchase Bitcoin with their credit cards. While this does not apply to debit cards, and there are still plenty of ways to deposit funds to Coinbase, Gemini, or other cryptocurrency exchanges, it is another hurdle that makes it a bit harder for people to start trading Bitcoin.
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With the constant influx of negative news, it's no wonder the cryptocurrency market is looking grim. While many point out that Bitcoin, Ethereum and all other major coins are still up hundreds if not thousands of percent year over year, it does appear that a bearish trend has taken over, with Bitcoin testing new lows seemingly every other day.
Disclosure: The author of this article owns, or has recently owned, a number of cryptocurrencies, including BTC and ETH.
Topics Bitcoin Cryptocurrency
Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing. Typically, this is a phone, a coin, or a car. His ultimate goal is to know something about everything.
