Abdulkareem Mojeed
It is lowest the currency would trade for since mid April.
The price of Bitcoin, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency, fell further below the $40,000 on Wednesday after China on Tuesday announced that no banks or online payments channels are permitted to offer clients any services involving cryptocurrency.
The institutions must not provide saving, trust or pledging services of cryptocurrency, nor issue financial products related to cryptocurrency, China said in the statement.
“Recently, crypto currency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and speculative trading of cryptocurrency has rebounded, seriously infringing on the safety of people’s property and disrupting the normal economic and financial order,” China said.
Like Nigeria, China has banned crypto exchanges and initial coin offerings but has not barred individuals from holding cryptocurrencies.
On February 5, the Central Bank of Nigeria had directed banks in the country to close all cryptocurrency-related accounts.
The CBN later explained that it banned cryptocurrency-related transactions in the country because the digital currency could be used for money laundering and terrorism.
“As the names imply, while Central Banks can issue Digital Currencies, cryptocurrencies are issued by unknown and unregulated entities,” the CBN said.
At around 8:44 AM Nigerian time, data from coinmarketcap.com showed that the price of Bitcoin had slumped by 12.02 per cent in the last 24 hours and 30.96 per cent in a week, while the market capitalization dipped by 11.44 per cent ($748,245,751,295.07).
In the past 24-hour, Bitcoin hit a low of $38,717.16 and oscillated to a high of $45,688.28 before settling at $40,260.17 on Wednesday 08.52 AM Nigerian time, this represents a 10.44 per cent change in price within this period according to coinmarketcap.com.