The bitcoin-US dollar exchange rate fell below $4,000 on Tuesday, extending losses in the overnight trade to hit a three-week low of $3,781.
At press time, the cryptocurrency is trading at $3,844 levels, which amounts to a 25% drop from the record high of $5,000 hit on September 2. Perhaps more notably, month-on-month, the BTC is now trading dead flat for the first time in since June.
Rumor has it bitcoin is feeling the pinch of speculation that the Chinese government is launching a crackdown on exchanges. A few others are blaming JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's scathing attack on bitcoin for the meltdown in the prices seen today.
But, while these events could factors, neither explain the current market activity.
News that China is planning to ban exchange trading has been in the air since Friday. Following a drop to $4,000 over the weekend, BTC regained poise as Chinese government kept mum on the issue. Experts dismissed the idea that an exchange ban would be long run negative for bitcoin as over-the-counter market will continue to flourish. Thus, bitcoin regained bid and moved to $4,350-4,380 levels in the first two days of the week.
Meanwhile, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon's negative comments on bitcoin are hardly surprising.
Investment banks have always been critical of the cyrptocurrencies. Moreover, JP Morgan is not a crypto bigwig, thus Dimon's comments are a big hit across the wires, but would hardly matter to bitcoin traders.
Source: coindesk
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