Bitcoin is heading for its biggest monthly decline since January 2015

• The bitcoin price could be headed for its worst monthly decline since January 2015. 
• Increased scrutiny from regulators and criticism from major businesses and leaders has weighed on the price.
• Bitcoin has fallen in four out of five of the Januarys in the period between 2013 and 2017.
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  Bitcoin is heading for its biggest monthly decline since January 2015  13 Hours Ago | 00:48

  Bitcoin is headed for its worst monthly decline since January 2015 this month amid increasing scrutiny from regulators on the cryptocurrency space.

  At 4:01 p.m., ET, bitcoin was trading at around $10,073, according to CoinDesk, which tracks the price of the cryptocurrency based on a number of major exchanges. 

  On January 1, the cryptocurrency traded at $13,412.44; Wednesday's price marked a nearly 25 percent decline. But bitcoin did hit a low of $9,627.89 on Wednesday, which represented a 28.2 percent decline. 

  So far, this is the biggest monthly decline since a fall of 30.9 percent in January 2015. In fact, January is typically a bad month for bitcoin — the cryptocurrency has fallen in four out of five of the Januarys in the period between 2013 and 2017. 

  The other major fall happened in February 2014 when bitcoin fell over 36 percent in the month. 

  So far this month, well over $60 billion has been wiped off the value of bitcoin, according to analysis of data from Coinmarketcap.com.

  Bitcoin, and other cryptocurrencies, have suffered from closer regulatory scrutiny, which is weighing on their price. 

  South Korea brought in new rules to regulate cryptocurrency trading but stopped short of banning it outright. The country's customs service said Wednesday that it had uncovered cryptocurrency crimes worth 637.5 billion won ($594.35 million).

  And on Tuesday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said it had obtained a court order to halt and freeze the assets of what is likely the largest initial coin offering ever.

  Meanwhile, Facebook said Tuesday that it was banning ads that promote cryptocurrencies. The social networking giant said it is trying to stop the promotion of "financial products and services frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices."

  Bitcoin and other digital coins have also been criticized by key business figures. Legendary investor Warren Buffett told CNBC that cryptocurrencies will "come to a bad ending."

  by Arjun Kharpal

  source

  https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/31/bitcoin-is-heading-for-its-biggest-monthly-decline-since-january-2015.html

  
  
  
  

  story – here's how  7:26 AM ET Wed, 17 Jan 2018 | 02:00

ETHEREUM, RIPPLE AND EVEN DOGECOIN VALUES PLUNGE AS BITCOIN ALTERNATIVES ARE HIT BY NEW RULES BANNING ANONYMOUS TRADING

As bitcoin’s price continues to drop, alternatives to the cryptocurrency are also declining.

At the time of publication, all of the top 39 digital currencies by market capitalisation have fallen in value over the past 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. Only five of the 100 biggest digital currencies have increased in value over the same period.

South Korea has announced new digital currency regulations, which ban people from trading them anonymously.

Over the past 24 hours, bitcoin has fallen by 8.29 per cent. 

Ethereum, the second most valuable digital currency, is down 8.87 per cent while Ripple XRP, the third most valuable digital currency, is down 4.87 per cent.

Bitcoin Cash and Cardano, which complete the top five, are down 8.85 per cent and 8.98 per cent, respectively.

Dogecoin, which was originally created as a joke, is down 10.13 per cent.

Syscoin has suffered the biggest decline of the top 100 digital currencies, having fallen by 19.45 per cent. 

Bitcoin’s value has dropped repeatedly over the past week, amid fears that the trading of digital currencies was about to be banned in South Korea and China.

The South Korean government has now announced that, from next week, everyone trading digital currencies in the country will have do so using their real names. 

The measure, which will help authorities trace digital currency transactions, is designed to prevent bitcoin being used for criminal activities.

South Korea will also prevent foreigners residing outside South Korea who do not have local bank accounts and people younger than 19-years-old from buying or selling bitcoin and other digital currencies. 

Once the new system is in place, existing accounts that have already been used for cryptocurrency trading will no longer be valid.

The bottom fell out of the cryptocurrency markets this week as hundreds of virtual coins experienced huge drops in value. But the price of Bitcoin and all the other major cryptocurrencies are experiencing a rally today, buoying up following a ‘bloodbath‘ which led to dramatic price plunges.

Yesterday afternoon, one Bitcoin was worth about $9,280 (£6,706) – which is a long way from the peak of almost $20,000 (£14,462) it hit at the end of 2017. Now the price of the world’s most famous virtual coin has now rebounded and is sitting at about $11,200 (£8,096), according to Coindesk. 

Yesterday, anyone who scrolled through the cryptocurrency price listings on CoinMarketCap was met with a sea of red. Today, the picture is quite different. This graph shows the upwards momentum of Bitcoin (Chart: Coindesk) Ethereum is up to about $1,090 after plunging to $780 yesterday, while Ripple has almost doubled from 90 cents to $1.63. More than 1,000 other cryptocurrencies appear to be following the same upward trajectory.

So is now a good time to buy? Samuel Miranda, a cryptocurrency expert from Coinlist.me, told Metro: ‘The Ripple market is moving sideways at the moment, but it feels very undervalued right now given the recent high of almost $4 – it’s arguably a good time to buy.’ He added: ‘Expect Ethereum to be a consistent riser this year due to more coins adopting the Ethereum blockchain.’ Ripple has been doing extremely well today (Chart: 

Coinbase) But before you start popping bottles, we’d advise you to listen to the party-pooping predictions of the experts at the London-based finance firm Capital Economics. Its analysts have slammed claims that cryptocurrencies could replace traditional forms of money as ‘rubbish’ and said more pain is on the way for Bitcoin investors. ‘The bubble is bursting,’ it said in a briefing note. ‘Most people are buying Bitcoin, not because of a belief in its future as a global currency, but because they expect it to rise in value. What is bitcoin? Play Video Loaded: 0% Progress: 0% 

PlayMute Current Time 0:00 / Duration Time 0:00 Fullscreen ‘Accordingly, it has all the hallmarks of a classic speculative bubble, which we expect to burst. Triggers for the bubble to burst could be a further crackdown by regulators or a major hacking attempt.’ ‘When it will fully burst is anyone’s guess and prices could yet rise again before they fall further ahead.’ The cryptocurrency ‘bloodbath’ was prompted by fears that a global crackdown was on the way.  Investors are worried that new rules being separately prepared by Germany, France, South Korea and China could clobber the markets by making the trading of cryptocurrencies difficult or even impossible.

by Jasper Hamill

Source

http://metro.co.uk/2018/01/18/cryptocurrency-bitcoin-ripple-ethereum-litecoin-prices-markets-rally-7240350/