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Bitcoin on Friday saw a resumption of a selloff that commenced in Wednesday, as China underscored its plan to crack down on the nascent crypto sector.
In a statement, Chinese Vice Premier Liu He said tighter regulation is needed to protect the financial system.
A translation of the statement via Google indicates that China sees a “crackdown on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior,” as a way to “prevent the transmission of individual risks.”
China’s position isn’t new, however, it helped to place fresh selling pressure on the crypto sector, led by bitcoin. The People’s Bank of China early Wednesday announced that financial services companies and payment services were banned from pricing or conducting business in virtual currencies, news reports said — a move that was blamed in part for a midweek plunge by digital assets.
See: Why China crypto crackdown sparked a bitcoin crash — and could feed a backlash
At last check, bitcoin
BTCUSD,
was down 8.5%, changing hands at $37,834.88 on CoinDesk. Ether on the Ethereum blockchain
ETHUSD,
the No. 2 crypto by valuation, was down 13% at $2,532.94.
Meme asset dogecoin
DOGEUSD,
was off 13% at 36.2 cents.
Bitcoin and Ether are both down by more than 40% from their recent all-time highs, while doge has shed half its value.
Check out: Why is crypto crashing? Will bitcoin prices ever recover? Here’s what traders and investors say
The downtrend in crypto has been partly blamed for some recent turbulence in equity markets, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
the S&P 500 index
SPX,
the Nasdaq Composite Index
COMP,
seeing choppy trade over the past week.
