Cryptocurrency tumbles as China crackdown intensifies

New Delhi: It was another bad weekend for Crypto investors around the globe. Popular coins tumbled sharply in reaction to the intensified Chinese crackdown on mining activities.

The world’s most popular cryptocurrency, Bitcoin tumbled almost 10 percent on Monday. It fell as low as $32,094 to its lowest in 12 days dragging all other coins down.

Ethereum valuation has also taken a massive knock and it is struggling to stay above $2,000. Other cryptos like XRP, Cardano, Dogecoin, Stellar, Polkadot, Chainlink and Litecoin are also trading much weaker than their value a day ago.

This drop is a reaction to a growing crackdown on cryptocurrencies in China, where authorities in the southwest province of Sichuan on Friday ordered bitcoin mining projects to close. It is a big blow to the cryptocurrency market considering that China accounts for more than half of global Bitcoin production.

According to data from the University of Cambridge, the production of bitcoin in China accounted last year for about 65 percent of global production with Sichuan its second-biggest producer.

“(The) crackdown on Chinese miners might mean that they are offloading coin into a thin market and taking us lower,” said Ben Sebley of London-based crypto firm BCB Group.

China’s central bank on Monday said that it had summoned some banks and payment institutions recently, urging them to crack down harder on cryptocurrency trading.