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A man walks out of a shop displaying a bitcoin sign during the opening ceremony of the first bitcoin retail shop in Hong Kong on February 28, 2014.
Bitcoin slid to its lowest for the month on Thursday amid a broader sell-off in digital currencies.
Bitcoin dropped more than 12 percent to $2,185.96 Thursday, its lowest since May 31 when it hit a low of $2,162.23, according to CoinDesk. The move highlights the volatile swings of digital currencies — bitcoin remains more than 100 percent higher year-to-date.
Meanwhile, the global market value of digital currencies dropped from a record of $117.21 billion on Monday to below $100 billion Thursday, according to CoinMarketCap.
Bitcoin 30-day performance
Source: CoinDesk
The cryptocurrency world started the week strong with bitcoin topping $3,000 for the first time Sunday, more than tripling for the year, and a record-breaking fund raise Monday of about $153 million for a new digital currency called Bancor. Another digital currency called IOTA launched on the Bitfinex exchange Tuesday with a record market capitalization of more than $1.5 billion.
However, the enthusiasm for the often volatile cryptocurrencies also attracted cyberattacks on at least two major exchanges and temporarily overwhelmed another exchange’s website with high customer demand.
Bitcoin’s’s rise over the weekend was also helped by demand from major Chinese exchanges, announced around the beginning of June they would resume bitcoin withdrawals after a roughly four month halt amid scrutiny from the People’s Bank of China. Chinese yuan-based bitcoin trade dropped from dominating global trade volume to less than 10 percent of all trade.
