The Bitcoin price has today dropped 12%, taking its year-to-date losses to an eye-watering 50%, after South Korean exchange Coinrail warned users it’s reviewing its system due to a hacking attempt.
Meanwhile, rival cryptocurrencies Ethereum and Ripple are both down over 10% today.
The latest blow comes as the Bitcoin price struggles to find a floor amid regulatory concerns, dwindling transactions, sky-high power consumption, and criticism from the world’s established financial industry.
However, Bitcoin holders aren’t broke yet — overall, the Bitcoin price is up over 100% on this time last year when it was trading for less than $3,000.
Here are the five biggest concerns for Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies right now.
Bitcoin woe number one…
The potential hack of Coinrail — which trades some 50 cryptocurrencies and is, just, in the world’s top 100 exchanges — is the latest high profile Bitcoin heist in recent months and will renew fears many have over Bitcoin’s safety as an investment and trading commodity.
South Korea has emerged as a key market for cryptocurrencies, and earlier this year was the third-biggest market in the world for Bitcoin trades, behind Japan and the US, according to the digital currency website Coinhills.
Some of the biggest Bitcoin hacks in recent years have happened in the country, with Bithumb, which was at the time, South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange and the world’s fifth largest at the time, was hacked in July last year.
The data of almost 32,000 users data was compromised which allowed hackers to log in and transfer coins.
A few months later, in December, another exchange, Youbit, lost around 4,000 Bitcoins — some 17% of its assets.
While the potential Coinrail hack is unlikely to be on the same scale as either of last year’s breaches it will shake the confidence of many potential Bitcoin investors at a troubled time for cryptocurrencies.