Virtual currency bitcoin crashed for the fifth consecutive day on Thursday, its longest downward streak in more than a year, Bloomberg reported. Its value nosedived after one of China’s largest online exchanges, BTCC, announced that it will end bitcoin transactions by September 30.
The value of bitcoin has dropped as much as 27% since September 7. China accounts for 23% of the international bitcoin trade.
In a tweet, BTC China said it had carefully considered the Chinese regulator’s decision to crack down on the cryptocurrency and would stop accepting new account registrations. On September 4, local reports had said that state regulators had prohibited firms from raising funds through initial coin offerings as they were unauthorised and vulnerable to financial scams, CNBC reported.
Bitcoin is a digital currency and is accepted the world over. However, there is no regulatory body to monitor its trade. Similar to any other currency, bitcoin prices fluctuate depending on supply and demand and a host of other factors.
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