Crashing cryptocurrencies seem to be continuing. Late Monday night, the price of bitcoin fell below $30,000 for the first time in nearly a month, dragging other digital currencies down with it.
According to Coin Metrics, bitcoin is currently trading around the $29,000 area, down approximately 3% on the day. Ether is down 1.25 percent, while XRP is down 4%. Despite the drop, according to CoinDesk statistics, bitcoin is still up 2.3 percent for the year. Ether and XRP are both up about 140 percent this year, owing to the meteoric increase they saw early in the year.
According to Forbes and subsequently verified on Twitter by the business CEO, the New Jersey Attorney General filed a Cease and Desist Order against the New Jersey-based crypto services firm BlockFi, ordering it to cease providing interest-bearing accounts. The price of Bitcoin dropped as a result of this.
Global financial markets also saw a significant sell-off on Monday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average having its worst day since October 2020, but the markets recovered most of their losses on Tuesday.
In only 24 hours, the entire cryptocurrency market was wiped out for approximately $89 billion on Tuesday morning. Bitcoin’s price has plummeted over 50% from its all-time high of over $65,000 in mid-April 2021, resulting in massive losses for many investors.
The bitcoin price has been dragged down by China’s ongoing crackdowns on cryptocurrency trading and mining companies.
In China, major bitcoin mining areas have been ordered to shut down their activities. Bitcoin mining is a high-energy process that allows for bitcoin transactions and the creation of new currencies.
China’s central bank has also talked to finance and fintech firms, warning them not to provide consumers with cryptocurrency-related services.
In 2017, China outlawed domestic cryptocurrency exchanges, forcing them to relocate overseas. Chinese merchants continued to purchase and sell digital currencies despite this. However, Chinese authorities have taken strong measures this year to tighten trade and mining prohibitions even further.