Bitcoin Carnage Continues – Price falls below $6,000 as over $550 billion wiped off in under one month

The price of bitcoin fell below $6,000 for in 2018 as the head of a leading central bank said it posed a threat to financial stability and signaled a global crackdown  on the popular cryptocurrency. “If authorities do not act pre-emptively, cryptocurrencies could become more interconnected with the main financial system and become a threat to financial stability,” the new head of the Bank for International Settlements, Agustín Carstenssaid, said speaking at Goethe University in Frankfurt, Germany. Carstenssaid is not alone, last week India’s Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that the country wants to “eliminate” the use of digital currencies in criminal activities, though India is a minor player in cryptocurrencies and the government apparently has yet to act.

In under one month, over $550 billion of value has been wiped off the entire cryptocurrency market. Bitcoin is off around 70 percent from its all time-high hit in mid-December and its market capitalization has fallen $233.5 billion since then. Both ethereum and ripple are also significantly off of their record highs.