BITCOIN has been hammered by the “worst monthly decline since January 2015” which has seen the value plummet from a peak of almost £14,000 ($20,000) last year to a new 2018 low this week, it has emerged.
Cryptocurrency tracking site CoinDesk shows that the virtual currency started trading at over £9,152 ($13,000) at the start of January.
However, the value of Bitcoin has since plummeted - the cryptocurrency sat at a worrying £7,064 ($10,035) on January 30.
The price graphs show no sign of recreating the incredible spike seen last year that caused many to buy into Bitcoin for the first time.
Bitcoin saw a rapid decline of 30.9 per cent in January 2015 - the month has a history of being bad for virtual investments.
Four out of five January’s between 2013 and 2017 saw a decline in Bitcoin prices.
Data website Coinmarketcap.com claims that over £42billion ($60billion) has been shaved off the value of the cryptocurrency last month.
An economics lecturer claimed that Bitcoin’s sharp decline in January is not out of the ordinary and credited it to a sharp rise of South East Asian residents selling off the cryptocurrency to raise money for the lunar year.
Gavin Brown, from Manchester Metropolitan University, declared that South Korea and China, two areas where bitcoin is incredibly popular, could be a reason for the sharp decline in market value for Bitcoin in January.
Mr Brown added that Bitcoin owners in the region could be selling off their prized coins to make a fortune to spend on celebrations to mark the event.
Bitcoin has been levelled with scrutiny from South Korea with new rules being introduced to remove the secrecy element from virtual currency trading.
The country’s customs service also declared that it had discovered £418million ($594.35million) in cryptocurrency crimes.
Meanwhile, Facebook added to the woes of Bitcoin investors yesterday by announcing that advertising promoting virtual currency products will be banned.
The company’s business managing director said the social network believes a broad approach is necessary as many companies advertising cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICO) are not currently operating in “good faith”.
An ICO encourages people to invest into fledgling cryptocurrencies before they launch, with the hope that in the future the cryptocurrency will increase in value as the crypto coin becomes more popular.
Rob Leathern, Product Management Director for Facebook Business, said: “We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception.
“There are many companies who are advertising binary options, ICOs and cryptocurrencies that are not currently operating in good faith.”
