Update: Panic Builds as Bitcoin Crashes Below $6,000

According to BBC, the price of Bitcoin has fallen to $5,947.40 (£4,256.44) today, according to a price index run by news website Coindesk. It reports that the latest fall comes a day after several major US and UK banks banned customers from using credit cards to purchase the digital currency. This is the most recent outgrowth of many government Legislations that have attempted to cripple the crypto-currency.

See our report this morning below:

Bitcoin has fallen below $7000, making it the sixth time it would fall in its last eight trading sessions. On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin fell as low as $6,853.53 during early afternoon trading in New York. That marked a fall of more than half from a peak of almost $20,000 hit in December.

This has raised fears globally as government and banks start to show an intention of a regulatory crackdown as bitcoin experiences its worst weekly performance since April 2013.

“We envisage this decline will continue, setting the next technical level at $5,000 a coin,” said Miles Eakers, chief market analyst at Centtrip, which specializes in foreign exchange, worldwide payments and treasury management.

Other cryptocurrencies also suffered double-digit declines recently, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com.

Ethereum, the second largest virtual currency, is currently down by nearly 28% percent at $587.99, while Ripple, the third largest, last traded at about  62 cents, is down 23.05%.Lloyds banking group has banned its customers from buying Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their credit cards.

The ban, starting on Monday, applies to Lloyds Bank, Bank of Scotland, Halifax and MBNA customers. Though it will not apply to their debit card customers, only to the banking group’s eight million credit card customers. It joins US banking giants JPMorgan Chase & Co (JPM.N) and Citigroup (C.N), who announced similar bans on concerns that lenders could be held liable when the volatile currencies plunge in value.

On Monday, India said it was planning steps to make virtual currencies illegal within its payments system and to regulate the trading of crypto assets.

This is funny and painful. #bitcoin price volatility in a nutshell. #doh pic.twitter.com/DV5q1MQzcc

— Jake Rossman 🇺🇦 (@ptownjake) February 6, 2018

But some investors are optimistic about the rise again owing to previous experiences with cryptocurrencies.

📌#FEAR NOT

​​📌#Biggest Crashes in Bitcoin history

Bitcoin died thousands of times just to keep on living. HODL SHARE with your friends#bitcoincrash pic.twitter.com/Fgqgg2xXVz

— Seb Cavlov (@SebCavlov) February 2, 2018

“Bitcoin has bounced back from similar collapses before during its short but volatile history, and it would hardly be a shock if those claiming the bubble has burst are surprised by yet another change in fortunes,” said Dennis de Jong, managing director at online FX brokerage firm UFX.com in Limassol, Cyprus.