The Independent's journalism is supported by our readers. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn commission. 

Bitcoin price rises again following huge cryptocurrency crash

It's encouraging news for investors, but there's no way of knowing whether the digital currency will rise further or fall off a cliff

Aatif Sulleyman
Wednesday 07 February 2018 14:13 GMT
Comments
CEO Financial Conduct Authority: 'If you want to invest in bitcoin be prepared to lose all your money'

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The huge bitcoin price crash, which saw the cryptocurrency lose almost half of its value in a matter of days, appears to have stopped – at least for now.

Bitcoin declined spectacularly at the beginning of February, falling from $10,000 to $6,000 in just four days.

The price plunge has now stopped, and bitcoin appears to be making a slow recovery.

It is currently worth $8,490, according to the Coinbase exchange, its value having increased by more than 25 per cent over the past 24 hours.

That’s encouraging news for holders of the cryptocurrency, many of whom would have feared the worst when its price started tumbling last Thursday.

However, bitcoin is notoriously volatile, and there’s no way of gauging whether it’s on the verge of rising further or dropping off a cliff.

Just 24 hours ago, all of the top 100 digital currencies by market capitalisation were in the red.

At the time of publication, they are all in the green. All but one of the top 20 have experienced double-digit gains.

Bitcoin and other digital currencies have declined over recent weeks, amid fears that trading could be banned in several countries around the world.

South Korea is no longer allowing people to trade bitcoin and other digital currencies anonymously, but has said it isn’t planning to ban cryptocurrency exchanges, despite numerous hints that this was on the cards.

Comments made by Theresa May suggest the UK government could introduce similar measures, and the US government has also said it is concerned about bitcoin’s popularity amongst criminals.

Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed in 2017, and came close to hitting the $20,000 mark in mid-December – more than twice the amount it is currently worth.

We’ve teamed up with cryptocurrency trading platform eToro. Click here to get the latest Bitcoin rates and start trading. Cryptocurrencies are a highly volatile unregulated investment product. No EU investor protection. 75% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in