After China placed new restrictions on cryptocurrency transactions, Bitcoin fell below $40,000, knocking down the prices of other digital coins.
Bitcoin, the most well-known cryptocurrency, had already been weakened by some twitter posts from Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but the news from China pushed it down to $38,514, a 9% drop.
Musk’s turnaround on Tesla accepting bitcoin as payment caused cryptocurrency declines last week.
Chinese banking and payment industry bodies have released a statement cautioning financial institutions against engaging in virtual currency-related activities such as trading or exchanging fiat currency for cryptocurrency.
Ether dropped 16% to $2,960.29.
Dogecoin, also dropped 16% to $0.4189.
The cryptocurrency market had lost approximately $270 billion in value in just 24 hours.
