Bitcoin Touches New YTD Low amid All-Out Attack

Bitcoin slumped to a new YTD low as negative news from India and Netherlands put pressure on it. The cryptocurrency recorded its worst monthly performance in January.

Bitcoin fell to its lowest level this year on February 2, touching $8,420 at the time of writing. Thus, the price slid to the lowest point since November 24, 2017, when it was in the middle of an impressive rally that surprised investors. On Bitfinex, one of the largest crypto exchanges in terms of Bitcoin trading volume, the quotation fell to a low of $8,431, according to data from Coinmarketcap.

In January, Bitcoin had the worst performance since the same month of 2015, falling by about 30%. The cryptocurrency is going through a rough patch amid a series of unfavorable fundamentals.

Here are the top events putting tremendous pressure on the quotation:

• Bitcoin dragged the whole crypto market down on fears that South Korea might ban cryptocurrencies, the same as China did it back in September last year. Even though South Korean recently came up with new regulations regarding crypto trading within its borders, it’s too early to conclude that the local authorities are planning to crack down on the market. In fact, finance minister Kim Dong-yeon revealed the government has no intention to shut down crypto trading.
• In an apparent contradiction to its status as a crypto-friendly territory, the Netherlands is showing signs that it may ban Bitcoin trading. Finance minister Wopke Hoekstra said that parties in the House of Representatives want to limit crypto market activity, perhaps even to the point of banning it. It seems we will get the final verdict in a few weeks.
• On Thursday, disappointing news came from India, where finance minister Arun Jaitley said in a speech that the government would do everything to discourage Bitcoin and crypto trading in the country. Monish Panda, founder of law firm Monish Panda & Associates, said that the government was ready to come up with new regulations for the crypto market and punish those who trade cryptocoin.

As if the finance ministers’ assault was not enough, events from the corporate and investor worlds do anything but help Bitcoin.

German financial regulator BaFin required that Berlin-based Crypto.exchange GmbH halt its exchange services from Bitcoin to euro. However, the problem seems to be the exchange itself rather than Bitcoin.

Elsewhere, Facebook announced that it was banning ads related to cryptocurrency, ICOs, and binary options.

Bitcoin’s market cap fell to a year-to-date (YTD) low of $160.7 billion against the YTD peak of $295.2 billion reached on January 5, when Coinmarketcap showed the price flirting with $17,600.

Some market participants link Bitcoin’s bearish trend with the fact that more Southeast Asian residents want to cash in by selling their cryptocurrency ahead of the lunar year.