Bitcoin (BTC) price slumped to a six-month low on Friday as China’s central bank launched on Friday a fresh crackdown on cryptocurrency trading in Shanghai.
People’s Bank of China (PBOC) Shanghai headquarters said in a statement it would crack down on a resurgence of illegal activities around virtual currencies, and cautioned investors not to confuse such instruments with blockchain technology, Reuters reported. The move came a day after financial regulators in Shenzhen launched a similar campaign, it added. Moreover, as reported, the PBOC is preparing to launch its own digital currency.
At pixel time (12:12 PM UTC), BTC trades at c. USD 7,154, dropping by 10% in the past 24 hours and reaching the level last seen in May 2019. The price is also down by 11% in the past month, trimming its annual gains to 59%.
Bitcoin price chart:
"The important thing to note here is the possible effect of low volume and low liquidity, to which this market is innately susceptible. When there are only a few offers on the table, there's always the possibility that a large buyer, or seller, can move the price with a single order," Mati Greenspan, Founder of QuantumEconomics.io, said earlier this week.
Meanwile, as , while the price is dropping, the Bitcoin mining difficulty and hash rate went up. This has led some market observers to believe that we may not see a mass miner capitulation yet.
Reactions:
Some people panicking about this -17% week.
— PlanB (@100trillionUSD)
#BlackFriday sale a week early | $BTC #bitcoin $7,000 | 50% off the June high ($14,000); 75% below fair value ($28,… https://t.co/MiIu5qMYcc
— Ronnie Moas (@RonnieMoas)
$BTC big picture support levels: $7000, $6400, $6000, $5500, $5000.
— Alex Kruger (@krugermacro)