Bitcoin fell 13% on Sunday after the world’s greatest and and best-known cryptocurrency suffered another sell-off that left it down nearly 50% from the year’s high.
Bitcoin fell to $32,601 at 1800 GMT (2 p.m. ET), losing $4,899.54 from its past close. It hit a high for the time of $64,895.22 on April 14.
“Many point to bitcoin’s volatility as untenable,” wrote RBC Capital Markets’ Amy Wu Silverman in a research note published on Saturday. “Indeed, Bitcoin makes severe and dizzying swings.”
Bitcoin had been under the pressure after a progression of tweets a week ago by billionaire Tesla Chief Executive and cryptocurrency backer Elon Musk, chiefly his reversal on Tesla accepting bitcoin as payment.
Furthermore, on Friday China cracked down on mining and trading of the largest cryptocurrency as part of ongoing efforts to prevent speculative and financial risks.
China’s Financial Stability and Development Committee, led by Vice Premier Liu He, singled out bitcoin as the resource it needs to control more.
The statement, which came days after three Chinese industry bodies fixed a prohibition on banks and payment organizations giving crypto-related services, was a sharp escalation of the country’s push to stamp out speculation and fraud in virtual currencies.
China’s most recent campaign against crypto came after the U.S. Depository Department on Thursday called for new standards that would require large cryptocurrency transfers to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service, and the Federal Reserve flagged the risks cryptocurrencies posed to financial stability.
