The past week has been a downward spiral for Bitcoin and the whole cryptocurrency market.
This year has been by far the best one for cryptocurrency ever, ICO's boomed and coins were reaching countless all-time high's - but for now, it seems like that trend has come to a temporary hold.
When looking at coinmarketcap you can see that pretty much all the numbers are red today, and it has been this way for the past week.
Bitcoin has experienced a 35% drop from its all-time high $5000 to below $3300, and reached a 30-day low.
And of course, Bitcoin being the first and largest cryptocurrency, its price development affects the whole market: The collective cryptocurrency market capitalization has dropped below $120 billion for the first time since 1 month.
Reasons for the price drop
China ICO Ban
Of course, the main factor for all the chaos and price drops in the crypto world is CHINA and their anti-cryptocurrency regulations.
It all started last week when the Chinese government announced that they would ban ICO's and regard them as illegal fundraising method.
Only a few days later, news emerged that the ban was supposed to be only temporary, until new policies and regulations would be introduced.
China is not the first government that's skeptical about ICO's and their meteoric rise this year, and we can expect more and more countries to establish regulatory framework against this type of fundraising.
It's possible that the government plans to introduce a licensing structure, similar to the one in New York, that would require cryptocurrency firms to pay for licenses to keep conducting business.
China Exchange Ban - BTCC Shutdown
A few days after the ICO Ban, rumours started that the Chinese government was also planning to shut down cryptocurrency exchanges.
What started off as a rumour soon became a confirmed truth when news emerged that China's third largest exchange platform, BTCC, was forced to stop all operations until September 30.
Although there is no confirmation yet that all chinese exchanges will be forced to shut down, these news resulted in a massive panic sell-off, making the price drop even further.
OKCoin and Huobi meeting
The two largest Chinese cryptocurrency exchange platforms, Huobi and OK, have not been closed down - yet.
Supposedly, heads of both companies will be meeting with Chinese government regulators tomorrow to discuss the current situation and a possible ban.
The crypto world will be watching the outcome of this meeting closely - and in case China really does decide to ban all cryptocurrency exchange activity, we will definitely experience another massive BTC sell-of.
Litecoin creator Charlie Lee stays optimistic, and says that "this is a good thing" and "Cryptocurrency cannot be killed by any country":
Jamie Dimon's comment: "Bitcoin is a fraud"
In other news besides China, JP Morgan/Chase CEO Jamie Dimon has also created some headlines this week when publicly stating that Bitcoin is "a fraud".
He said that "It's worse than tulip bulbs. It won't end well. Someone is going to get killed", and that he'd fire anyone from JP Morgan "in a second" if they were trading bitcoin, because it's against they're rules "and they are stupid."
He also stated that these claims were only against Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, and that he wants to separate his statements from Blockchain Technology, which itself is very useful (this differentiation was probably a smart move when taking into consideration that his only bank has started experimenting with blockchain trials.)
Following these statements, the Bitcoin price also experienced another drop.
Time to invest!
Now for anyone thinking that these are bad times for cryptocurrency and that these are all bad news - it's quite the contrary!
I'm absolutely sure that this is not the end of a "Bitcoin bubble" by any means, this is simply a price correction before another bullish run towards the end of the year.
And most importantly: this is an investment opportunity!
Almost all numbers on coinmarketcap are RED, and as you guys know, the best trading advice ever is "Buy red, sell green".
Right now is the perfect time to invest.
Whether that's in Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, Monero, Qtum, OmiseGo or even Steem - if you were waiting for the right moment to jump in with your investment, now is the time!
Of course, we don't know how long this downward trend will last and you should only ever trade with money that you can afford to lose - but if you've been wanting to invest anyway, then right now might be your chance to buy some cheap coins.
Don't feel discouraged by the bad news. As pretty much any experienced cryptocurrency trader will tell you: now is a time to invest, not to feel desperate.
© Sirwinchester