Lean times for crypto believers: bitcoin, Ethereum and many other cryptocurrencies are plummeting in recent hours, and the reason is once again in China.
The People’s Bank of China, which controls the Asian giant’s monetary policy and regulates its financial institutions, has demanded that banks not offer products or services aimed at cryptocurrency transactions. New ( or old, depending on how you look at it ) measures have caused the values of various “cryptos” to plummet.
China Shakes Up Cryptocurrency Markets Again
At the moment, bitcoin is around $ 33,000 in value, while an ETH barely exceeds $ 2,000 but has come to be struggling with the 1,900 barrier. The data is striking, especially when this cryptocurrency reached its record price of more than $ 4,300 on May 12, while bitcoin touched 65,000 in mid-April.
The drop has spread to virtually all cryptocurrencies, and only stablecoins such as Tether or USD Coin remain more or less safe due to their almost 1: 1 ratio to the US dollar.
The falls in the last 24 hours reach 14% in the case of Dogecoin, and the accumulated in the last week is even more worrying both for bitcoin (which loses more than 19%) and for ETH (which borders on 22% losses ).
As explained in Coindesk, the statements of the People’s Bank of China are not new, and they are once again a confirmation of the measures that had already begun to be taken a long time ago.
Now, however, other financial institutions have declared to join these efforts and follow the guidelines of the BPC: the Postal Savings Bank, the Agricultural Bank of China and even the giant Alipay platform have issued statements in which they adhere to these guidelines.
To this persecution in the financial field is also added the one that is affecting the miners. According to the Global Times, the Shichuan province in southwest China saw several “bitcoin mines” shut down last Sunday. It is estimated that in fact 90% of China’s mining activity will end up disappearing in the short term, something that could have an even more notable effect in the immediate future of this cryptocurrency.