[2017-09-13] Bitcoin price falls below $4000 on worries about China crackdown

[White sugar]

Bitcoin  fell below $4,000 on Wednesday with negative comments from major business leaders about the cryptocurrency and the threat of a regulatory crackdown, unnerving investors.

The digital currency fell as low as $3,907.26 on Wednesday, before recovering slightly to trade around the $4,050 mark, according to data from industry website CoinDesk. Bitcoin began was see-sawing in early trade.

At its lowest point on Wednesday, bitcoin was over $1,000 off the all-time high of 5,013.91 hit on September 2. Bitcoin's total market capitalization or value has fallen around $15.5 billion in this time from $82.28 billion on September 2 to $66.74 billion on Wednesday, according to Coinmarketcap data.

Investors have been jittery in the past few days mainly due to numerous media reports suggesting that Chinese authorities are looking to shut down some bitcoin exchanges. These are platforms where bitcoin is traded.

Another report by news outlet Caixin earlier this month said Chinese authorities were looking to ban projects that looked to raise money through cryptocurrencies. These so-called initial coin offerings (ICOs) have exploded in recent months.

It's not just Chinese regulators taking a closer look at bitcoin. On Wednesday, India's central bank said it had been looking into cryptocurrencies as legal tender. Sudarshan Sen, an executive director at the Reserve Bank of India however, said the body was "not comfortable" with non-fiat cryptocurrencies, in comments reported by Reuters.

Business leaders have also been pouring cold water on the cryptocurrency. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon called the cryptocurrency a "fraud" on Tuesday.

"It's just not a real thing, eventually it will be closed," Dimon said at the Delivering Alpha conference presented by CNBC and Institutional Investor.

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/09/13/bitcoin-price-falls-on-worries-about-china-exchange-crackdown.html

[Carlton Banks]

Well, the actual Chinese government are unlikely to be happy with removing their options when it come to cryptocurrencies, bearing in mind the US Treasury Secretary's recent threats to cut China out of the SWIFT system if China breaks the new economic sanctions against North Korea (although Mnuchin's comments are also to be treated less seriously than they appear, the US really needs continued Chinese growth for a whole panoply of reasons to help sustain present US economic... well, let's call it "activity", growth seems a strange word to use at this point in time. Sure, the number of dollars in the real world money supply is growing ).

So it's kind of difficult for all state actors concerned here, they're making all kinds of belligerent and bellicose threats, none of which would be less than disastrous to actually follow through with. Strange, it's as if all state governments are gradually changing into a slightly different variation of the North Korean regime: full of talk, and little substantive action.

They're becoming hilariously impotent, it's pretty funny to see them thrashing around as their power base slowly dies while Bitcoin continues to rise. Be nice, boys and government  girls, you'll meet some Bitcoiners on your way down, and you want to land gracefully somewhere, don't you?

[Marry Finch]

So far, China's clear intentions and actions regarding the crypto currency have not been traced. Either this is a perfectly permissible ordering of this activity, or it is a question of introducing a number of prohibitions on the circulation of the crypto currency in this country. The situation is very long in time, the market and investors are nervous, the rate is falling. It seems that the situation is deliberately played out to lower the rate of the crypto currency. This means that you do not need to panic, after a while the crypto currency will not only be restored, but its active rise will also begin.

[richardsNY]

It's funny how certain figures fail to understand what crypto is about, which is very likely the reason they have a retarded way of looking down on crypto in general. If these 'rumors' become reality at some point, we'll be leaving China behind without much problems -- China has already lost a major part of its influence, and taking Bitcoin's overall demand in consideration, we will eventually overcome this situation without much problems. As soon as China is no longer participating in the crypto scene, they no longer form an obstacle where people poop their pants when they have something to announce....

[Slow death]

Bitcoin  fell below $4,000 on Wednesday...

China has a lot of influence on bitcoin, many miners, many exchange with a considerable volume and many icos created by Chinese, that gives a great power to china

anything negative they do, is enough for the price to fall

[BitFinnese]

It's funny how certain figures fail to understand what crypto is about, which is very likely the reason they have a retarded way of looking down on crypto in general. If these 'rumors' become reality at some point, we'll be leaving China behind without much problems -- China has already lost a major part of its influence, and taking Bitcoin's overall demand in consideration, we will eventually overcome this situation without much problems. As soon as China is no longer participating in the crypto scene, they no longer form an obstacle where people poop their pants when they have something to announce....

This people you called figures are working in a company that competes against Bitcoin, so basically  they should eliminate competition by simply killing the threat.  Though I doubt they can kill the threat known Bitcoin.  There is already countries that accepted and supporting it.  So China and other country issuing ban on Bitcoin will be at disadvantage.  The current news circulation about China closing all exchanges is just an overstatement.  Probably some who does not comply, but I doubt they will implement a total crypto exchange ban in their local vicinity.    Abut the price falling I believe this is a work of a whale, I even read an article about how whale FUD the market to be able to take advantage by shorting their trade and FUD'ing the market after.

[Coin-Keeper]

A little bit unrelated but not totally.  I have always had some concerns about China becoming too strong an actor with too much power and influence over BTC prices and stuff.  It might actually work out to be better in the long run IF mining control was spread just a bit around the globe.  My .02

[Kemarit]

A little bit unrelated but not totally.  I have always had some concerns about China becoming too strong an actor with too much power and influence over BTC prices and stuff.  It might actually work out to be better in the long run IF mining control was spread just a bit around the globe.  My .02

But since they started this ahead of other countries, they have somewhat a monopoly of mining farms and I agree that it should be spread across the globe. I hope that Japan or Russia can provide the void if China goes U-turn against bitcoin. Of course we have seen the negative effect recent days about the China crackdown but I consider this as temporary and soon we will see the price recover again. I read that Japan has investment millions of dollars to build a mining farm as well and soon they will be at the forefront of this revolution and the control of mining powers should shift gradually from China to Japan and other countries.

[Carlton Banks]

If these 'rumors' become reality at some point, we'll be leaving China behind without much problems -- China has already lost a major part of its influence, and taking Bitcoin's overall demand in consideration, we will eventually overcome this situation without much problems. As soon as China is no longer participating in the crypto scene, they no longer form an obstacle where people poop their pants when they have something to announce....

This is such a basic (yet surprisingly the most original) observation.

C'mon Chinese government, you've threatened to "do something about cryptocurrency" almost as many times as the Russian government has, all these public pronouncements that end in nothing just come across as one big, long bluff.


The simple fact is, there is no decision that any government can take that will act in that government's interests. If they're totally merciless, they're screwed anyway. If they let it be, they're screwed anyway.

So, pretty soon the modern serf-izens are going to figure this out: the more the government talks, the more it demonstrates how helpless they are to stop cryptocurrencies, it's going to be about as effective as their bans on other victimless crimes. Once that happens, governments will quickly lose control altogether.

So let them bluff, or follow through. It makes no difference in the long-term, Bitcoin wins whichever they do. Satoshi and the cypherpunks were too smart for these jumped-up government crooks.

[nickbelski]

So let them bluff, or follow through. It makes no difference in the long-term, Bitcoin wins whichever they do. Satoshi and the cypherpunks were too smart for these jumped-up government crooks.

You know, i agree with you, Bitcoin is great idea, it seems look like a Bubble, but this asset already brings diversity and stability to worlds economy, so it has real helpfulness and utility. One thing confuses me when Nobel  laureate has talked about bitcoin recently: Satoshi is not a real person, he is fictitious identity. Because every bubble has it`s own interesting idea and prehistory, cowered with darkness. What can you people say about it ?