Cryptocurrencies continue to sell-off aggressively as the price of Bitcoin, the world’s biggest digital coin, has now fallen to $40,000 U.S.
Throughout this article all figures are in U.S. dollars.
Bitcoin was down 10.4% to $40,330.92 in Asian trading Wednesday (May 19). Earlier in the session, the cryptocurrency had fallen as low as $38,787. Bitcoin is now down 37% from its all time high of $63,000 per coin.
The latest price decline comes after the People’s Bank of China renewed its crackdown on cryptocurrencies. The central bank issued a statement reiterating that financial institutions should not accept or deal with cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin’s slump has extended to the broader cryptocurrency market. Ethereum, the world’s second biggest cryptocurrency, was down 14.5% to $2,987.07 in Asian trading Wednesday. Dogecoin was down 15% to $0.41.
The value of the entire cryptocurrency market has fallen by 13% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.com.
Cryptocurrency prices began sliding last week after Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) announced that it will no longer pursue plans to accept Bitcoin as payment for its electrical cars, citing environmental concerns.