There is No End in Sight to Bitcoin's Decline

Bitcoin continued its decline for a fifth straight day on Monday as investors ramped up their selloff of digital coins, briefly dropping below $7,000 by midday trading in New York, according to data from CoinDesk.

Bitcoin’s crash has now wiped out more than 60 percent of its value since it hit a record $19,511 in December, as Bloomberg notes. The coin’s decline has brought down the value of other cryptocurrencies as well, with Ripple losing about 14 percent and Ethereum also falling.

The selloff of Bitcoin and other coins has increased as major credit-card issuers begin to ban the purchase of cryptocurrencies in growing numbers, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America, Bloomberg reports. The moves are being made as the banks say they are seeking to protect their customers.

Nouriel Roubini of Roubini Macro Associate, also known as “Dr. Doom,” told Bloomberg Television last week that Bitcoin is “biggest bubble in human history.”

It isn’t just Bitcoin, Roubini added. There are more than 1,300 cryptocurrencies or initial coin offerings, and “most of them are even worse” than the largest digital token. These constitute a “a bubble to the power of two or three,” he said.

Blockchain has “been around for 10 years, and the only application is cryptocurrencies, which is a scam,” the New York University economist added.

Meanwhile, the New York Times reported about the growing concerns that the value of Bitcoin is being “artificially propped up” by the popular exchange called Bitfinex. Bitfinex was subpoenaed in December by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, a U.S. regulatory agency.

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