Bitcoin prices continued to take a hit on Thursday morning Asia time, following a report that Goldman Sachs was dropping its plans for opening a trading desk for cryptocurrencies.
The world’s largest digital currency fell to a low of $6,279.08 around 8:36 a.m. HK/SIN, according to data from industry outlet CoinDesk.
Beyond bitcoin, the price of other cryptocurrencies also continued to plunge, according to tracking site CoinMarketCap. As of 11:09 a.m. HK/SIN, the price of ethereum had fallen by 19.72 percent in only 24 hours, while Ripple’s XRP token had seen its value dive by 13.92 percent and bitcoin cash dropped by 18.79 percent during that time.
Digital currencies often move in tandem, pulled by the fortunes of bitcoin — which far exceeds its peers in terms of market size. Despite recovering a bit from its earlier daily low, bitcoin is still down about 12 percent over the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. That figure roughly matched the percentage change shown in CoinDesk’s price tallies.
The major recent news in the crypto space came from a Wednesday Business Insider report, which cited people familiar with the issue saying Goldman continues to see uncertainty in the regulatory landscape for cryptocurrencies. In October of 2017, the Wall Street behemoth had said it was looking into the possibility of launching a new trading operation focused on bitcoin and other digital currencies.
The report also cited executives as concluding that more steps, many of which are beyond the company’s control, need to be taken before a regulated financial institution would be allowed to trade cryptocurrencies.
In October of 2017, Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs’ outgoing CEO, had tweeted that the bank was “still thinking about bitcoin.”
Another bit of recent bearish news for cryptocurrencies came late last month when the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission once again rejected proposals for a bitcoin exchange-traded fund as it continued to voice concern over fraud and possible manipulation in bitcoin markets. In bids to attract institutional investors, multiple groups have attempted to obtain SEC approval for cryptocurrency-focused exchange-traded funds.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the cumulative market cap for all cryptocurrencies expressed in U.S. dollars has plunged approximately 72 percent since the beginning of 2018.
— CNBC’s Michael Sheetz, Kate Rooney and Evelyn Cheng contributed to this report.
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