The year 2018 is a bad start for the bitcoin virtual currency. Monday, the cryptocurrency pioneer again declined by almost 20 percent to touch the range of 6,500 US dollars per chip.
The total market value of bitcoin was reportedly down by 67 billion US dollars or more than Rp 900 trillion in the past week.
Bitcoin prices are now far behind, with a margin of more than 60 percent, from record highs in the range of 19,500 US dollars per chip recorded in December 2017.
The decline in bitcoin prices was triggered by a massive sell-off due to a lot of bad news that recently hit the cryptocurrency industry.
Bitcoin prices had dropped to the range of 6,500 US dollars per chip on Monday (5/2/2018) yesterday, according to data from Coindesk.
Earlier this week, for example, a number of major financial institutions, including Bank of America, Citigroup, JP Morgan, and Llyods Banking Group, agreed to ban the purchase of bitcoins with their credit cards.
Banking steps are followed by retail. As summed up by KompasTekno of Forbes, Tuesday (6/2/2018), at least four major e-commerce operators no longer accept bitcoin as a means of payment, including Microsoft.
Meanwhile, the Chinese government will block the access of its citizens to any international cyrptocurrency exchanges around the world, having previously banned local cyrptocurrency exchanges.
Virtual currency outside bitcoin also fared badly. Ethereum had recorded a decline in prices up to 20 percent earlier this week to reach the range of 700 dollars per chip. Ripple value fell more than 60 percent from less than 1 US dollar per chip.
When news is downgraded, according to data from Coindesk, bitcoin is traded at a price of around 7,000 US dollars per chip.