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05-Feb-2018<br />

Bitcoin drops below $8,000 for the 2nd time in 3 days<br />

BUSINESS INSIDER UK<br />

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Bitcoin drops back below $8,000 per coin on Monday morning. After a rough week last<br />

week, the cryptocurrency market remains under pressure. Last week's sell-off was driven<br />

by an investigation into tether, a cryptocurrency that some fear has been used to inflate the<br />

value of bitcoin .<br />

LONDON — The price of bitcoin dropped back below $8,000 per coin on Monday morning<br />

as high volatility in the cryptocurrency markets persists.<br />

Bitcoin initially dropped below $8,000 during a wild day of trading on Friday, which saw the<br />

cryptocurrency drop as much as 15% to a low of $7,700, before jumping and eventually<br />

ending the day in positive territory, close to $9,000.<br />

After a reasonably stable weekend of trading, bitcoin's slump resumed on Monday, falling to<br />

a low of $7,876 per coin overnight. As of 7.50 a.m. GMT (2.50 a.m. ET) bitcoin is hovering<br />

around the $8,000 mark, but remains a little below it, as the chart below shows:<br />

The crypto market has been on the back foot since the start of the year, hit by fears of a<br />

regulatory crackdown and slipping Asian volumes . Bitcoin is now at less than half its<br />

December peak of over $19,000.<br />

Monday's drop comes amid announcements from numerous major banks banning the use of<br />

their credit cards to buy bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. In the USA, JPMorgan Chase,<br />

Bank of America, and Citigroup have announced bans, while Lloyds Banking Group is<br />

expected to do the same in the UK on Monday.<br />

More concerns emerged about the sector last week as Facebook banned cryptocurrency<br />

advertisements and US regulators began investigating tether, a cryptocurrency that some<br />

fear has been used to inflate the value of bitcoin .<br />

Last week India's finance minister Arun Jaitley also said that the Indian government " does<br />

not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate<br />

use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment<br />

system ."<br />

Elsewhere in the crypto markets on Monday, Ethereum is lower by just 0.3% to trade at<br />

$821, while Ripple's XRP is 2% lower at $0.794.<br />

SEE ALSO: REPORT: Lloyds Bank bans 9 million credit card customers from buying<br />

bitcoin<br />

Join the conversation about this story »<br />

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