Bitcoin Drops to $10,000 After December Peak as South Korea Considers Regulation

Bitcoin’s price has fallen below $10,000 for the first time since December 4, 2017. The value of one Bitcoin fell as low as $9,477 on Wednesday according to data from Coinbase. It did however recover, and at the time of writing this report, it was trading at $11,791. Yet this value is a significant drop from the $19,800 it reached in early December.

Other cryptocurrency assets also witnessed price drops. Ethereum, whose price has soared extremely in recent weeks, dropped as low as $776. While Ripple, the third largest cryptocurrency dropped as much as 25%. Before this price crash, Ethereum had been trading above $1,100 according to Coinbase.

As usual, nobody knows what exactly is causing the latest fall in prices. Cryptocurrency assets have been known to be extremely volatile. The market is easily accessible for trading and swings easily to industry reports.

Some critics have already began echoing that the latest price crash is testament that Bitcoin is a bubble, if not even a ponzi scheme.

Korean and Chinese Regulatory Fears

Despite what the critics are saying, it appears that regulatory concerns may be the biggest cause of the price collapse.

The South Korean government had been pessimistic that its youth had caught Bitcoinmania. It began considering plans to regulate the cryptocurrency industry last year.

The proposed regulations included banning anonymous trading accounts, placing age restrictions on South Korean trading platforms and even banning cryptocurrency trading altogether.

According to the South Korean government, these plans are just suggestions. But media misrepresentation that the country would ban cryptocurrency last week caused a panic, and perhaps caused the price of cryptocurrency to plunge so far.

China is also pursuing cryptocurrency regulations amidst worries that cryptocurrency is aiding currency speculation, money laundering and tax evasion. The government plans to restrict access to trading platforms. The Chinese authorities are also looking to monitor platforms and individuals that facilitate settlement and clearing services for centralised trading.