Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which had flamed late last year, were barely Tuesday, which analysts explained among other things by an increased willingness to regulate the sector.
The most famous virtual currency, bitcoin, "fell below the $ 12,000 mark, the unheard of since early December," noted Tuesday morning David Madden, an analyst at CMC Markets UK.
Shortly before Christmas, the cryptocurrency had treated the $ 20,000.
All cryptocurrencies were affected by the decline, according to the coinmarketcap.com trading platform. The ethereum, the ripple and the cash bitcoin lost respectively 12.41%, 19.16% and 15.51% at midday Tuesday, according to this source.
According to analysts, this movement is explained in particular by the indications of a hardening of the authorities with regard to cryptocurrencies, in particular in South Korea and in China.
"Explaining the movements on the bitcoin is always tricky, but this plunge (...) could well be explained by the signs of increased regulatory will" authorities, wrote Tuesday morning Neil Wilson, analyst at the broker ETX Capital.
The South Korean government said last week that Seoul was preparing to ban cryptocurrency trading platforms, before backtracking and saying it was only one of the measures being considered by the ministry. of Justice.
South Korea "is home to some of the biggest bitcoin exchange platforms," analyst firm Capital Economics said on Tuesday.
Markets are also rumored by rumors that China is preparing to implement a complete ban on bitcoin mining, with the computer activity of issuing digital currency.
But it is probably in China that the bitcoin mining activity is the most developed, analysts recall.