Bitcoin (EXANTE: Bitcoin) has dropped to a low of $3,426, the lowest average this month, after Chinese media reported that the country's regulators were moving closer to shutting down exchanges, Bitcoin.com reports.
Chinese bitcoin exchange BTCChina said on Thursday that it would stop all trading from September 30, setting off a further slide in the value of the cryptocurrency that left it over 30 percent away from the record highs it hit earlier in the month.
The price of bitcoin has already dropped significantly on September 13 as uncertainty about the news from China swept the web. Bitcoin’s value dipped from $4,200 to a low of $3,500.
Bitcoin is now down nearly 30% from its peak at above $5,000 on September 1.
This is a second drop of this magnitude in less than three months.
Between June and mid-July, bitcoin prices fell 33%, largely due to fears surrounding the eventual upgrade of bitcoin’s software code and branching out of the Bitcoin Cash (EXANTE: Bitcoin.Cash).
Still, bitcoin is up about 250% since the start of the year with a market cap of $59.3 billion.