Cryptocurrency slump continues as regulation threat bites

Cryptocurrencies continue to decline today amid a toughening regulatory environment.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency bitcoin has fallen by 3.51 per cent to $4,314.68, according to data from Coindesk, while Ethereum has dropped 6.47 per cent to $123.34.

Bitcoin is trading almost 80 per cent down on this time last year, after falling below $5000 to a 13-month low earlier this week.

XRP and Litecoin have both dropped 5.3 per cent and 5.6 per cent ro $0.41 and $31.86 respectively.

Thinkmarkets analyst Naeem Aslam said “In cryptocurrency markets, it looks like, Bitcoin is likely to move even lower after a failed attempt to break above the 4700 level.

“The regulatory environment is suffocating the bulls and the bears are going wild. It is likely that the price may touch the level of 3800 or even 3500 if the current momentum continues.

“The most worrying aspect is that Ethereum could fall below the 100-mark and the honest truth behind that is because a large number of bogus coins have been flushed out of the system and this has made Ethereum less valuable.

“An interesting fact is that the price of Ripple's XRP is still holding on to its gains and this is really shocking because the actual use cases of Ripple's XRP are in no comparison to that Bitcoin or Ethereum.”

Craig Erlam, analyst at forex trader Oanda, said: “This time last year we were closing in on a high of close to $20,000 in bitcoin, something many said was a bubble waiting to burst – how right they were with it now trading almost 80 per cent off those highs.”