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BITCOIN'S price sunk to an overnight low of $7,892 as week begins with <strong>news</strong> that UK<br />

banking giant Lloyds Bank will ban its customers from buying Bitcoin on their credit cards.<br />

The ban starts today and applies to all Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA<br />

customers.<br />

7am GMT UPDATE<br />

Bitcoin is currently down at $7,940 on the day so far after UK high-street bank Lloyds<br />

banned all cryptocurrency payments on its credit cards.<br />

The ban extends to other household names in the banking giant's credit card family<br />

including Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA.<br />

Wallet holders would have been hoping for a better start to the week but <strong>news</strong> of another<br />

mainstream finance firm being spooked by price volatility and regulatory threats means that<br />

other credit cards retailers around the world will be studying the fallout from Lloyds' ban.<br />

The Lloyds group has over eight million credit card customers and the ban stems from the<br />

fear that customers began buying cryptocurrencies to make a quick profit in the run-up to<br />

Christmas.<br />

However, with the price now significantly below the mark many UK buyers paid for their<br />

cryptocurrencies, Lloyds' customers are now servicing a debt much higher than the worth of<br />

of the digital tokens in their wallets.<br />

Lloyds is concerned about its exposure to crypto-risk as it could end up footing the bill for<br />

unpaid debts should the price continue to fall.<br />

A Lloyds spokeswoman told the BBC: "We continually review our products and procedures<br />

and this is part of that."<br />

A number of US credit card firms have also banned crypto purchases on credit cards.<br />

Bank of America began blocking cryptocurrency purchases on Friday while JPMorgan did<br />

the same on Saturday.<br />

Citigroup will soon stop cryptocurrency purchases on credit, following on from Capital One<br />

and Discover.<br />

All of the top five credit card issuers in the US have now announced or implemented bans,<br />

according to Fortune.<br />

Live reporting through the day, below...<br />

8.58am - UPDATE - Torrid time for Ripple<br />

Ripple is having a bad day afther losing 15 percent of its value and falling to $0.78.<br />

8.30am - UPDATE - Bitcoin to gain 60 percent?<br />

The financial consultancy deVere group has predicted that demand cryptocurrencies will<br />

“skyrocket” in the next 12 months.<br />

Bitcoin, the group claim, could gain by 50 to 60 percent, and will remain highly volatile as it<br />

comes under “increasing pressure” from ethereum and other cryptocurrencies.<br />

Nigel Green, CEO of deVere Group said: "Bitcoin – the world’s highest profile and largest by<br />

market-cap cryptocurrency - slumped by 30 per cent last week. There’s increasing scrutiny<br />

of the market by governments around the world, plus enhanced regulation.<br />

“However, demand for cryptocurrencies is set to sky rocket in 2018 as more people get to<br />

know about them and use them, and as the interest of governments and businesses, and<br />

more regulation, demonstrate how the market is maturing and becoming ever-more<br />

mainstream.”<br />

He continues: “Bitcoin will remain highly volatile over the next 12 months, which should be<br />

expected. When it recovers from its current position and if and when it climbs pass the next<br />

major resistance point, we could see it surge by 50 to 60 percent, as many will jump in for<br />

fear of missing out for a second time.<br />

“As in all markets, this expected volatility is creating, and will continue to create, important<br />

buying opportunities.”<br />

Mr Green says that the Bitcoin vs Ethereum battle is reminiscent of the VHS vs Betamax<br />

tech format war of the 1980s.<br />

Adding: "But there is room for several major players in cryptocurrencies, unlike in the video

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