Bitcoin Bust: Bitcoin price drops below $8,000 for first time since Nov. 24; Over $100 billion wiped off global cryptocurrency market in 24 hours

Bitcoin bloodbath continues and the price does not seem to be abating. The Price of Bitcoin drops below $8,000 for first time since November 24, 2017. Over $100 billion in global cryptocurrency market wiped off  in 24 hours.

The total market capitalization or value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation stood at $405,241,490,138 at 6:30 a.m. London time (1:30 a.m. ET), according to data from Coinmarketcap.com, which takes into account the prices of digital coins across a number of key exchanges. This was a fall of $112.6 billion of value from a day before. The continued slide in the price of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies may be due to a lot of recent events, including news from Indian Finance Minister, the New York Times article that the price of Bitcoin is being propped by a few people.

In a budget speech, India Finance Minister said: “The Government does not consider crypto-currencies legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate use of these crypto-assets in financing illegitimate activities or as part of the payment system.” He went to say that India, however, welcome and would explore Blockchain, the underlying technology behind Bitcoin and all other cryptocurrencies. “Distributed ledger system or the block chain technology allows organization of any chain of records or transactions without the need of intermediaries. The Government will explore use of block chain technology proactively for ushering in digital economy.”

Cryptocurrencies have seen a major sell-off. Bitcoin fell below $9,000 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk’s bitcoin price index, which tracks prices from four major cryptocurrency exchanges.