Bitcoin prices rose 6.23% to US $ 6,661 or Rp 99.91 million earlier this week, compared to last weekend. However, if it is calculated from the beginning of the year, the value of Bitcoin has fallen by 50%.
Quoting coinmarketcap sites, the price of a number of digital currencies that have large market capitalization such as bitcoin and ethereum is indeed slumping compared to its heyday last year.
Until Wednesday (10/17) at 11.00 WIB, the price of 1 bitcoin (BTC) is equivalent to US $ 6,447.31. This figure is dropped by 51.11% (ytd) compared to the end of last year of US $ 13,187.60.
Meanwhile, ethereum prices in the same period dropped 70.92% (ytd) from US $ 722.41 per 1 ETH to US $ 210.07 per 1 ETH.
Kanta Nandana, Country Manager of Luno Indonesia, said that the movement of digital exchange rates cannot be separated from the market mechanism. If demand is high, then prices are also soar, and vice versa.
He pointed out, the price of bitcoin had jumped more than 100% in just four months from September to December last year. This made the cryptocurrency boom and hunted many people.
"The high hype of the public makes the price of crypto currencies continue to rise until they touch the overbought point. From there the price began to fall, "said Kanta, Tuesday (10/16).
(Read also: Theft of Bitcoin from the Blockchain System Claimed to Need Rp. 70 Trillion)
Meanwhile, public distrust of digital currencies causes the value of transactions per day to decline compared to the end of 2017. In Indonesia, cryptocurrency daily transactions only reach Rp 1 trillion on average.
"In the past, the price was crazy, people had lots of transactions and the transaction value was huge," Kanta said.
Only, Kanta believes that if government regulations about investing in digital currency, will make the demand for cryptocurrency increase again. The effect is that the price of digital currency can be increased again.
Ideally, the government can make regulations regarding the identity of cryptocurrency investors so as not to be misused as a means of money laundering or terrorism financing.
In addition, the government can also make rules to ensure the legality of the platform providers. Although the company already has a legal entity, the government can make a special license for the exchange that will be issued by the Commodity Futures Trading Supervisory Agency(CFTSA).
