Why has the Bitcoin price crashed and what's happened to the crypto market?
Sign up to FREE email alerts from our Money Saving Club Newsletter Invalid Email Something went wrong, please try again later. Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice  The price of cryptocurrency has crashed over the last twenty-four hours, in a judgement day for Bitcoin. Mining and trading has been suspended in some countries, and multinationals appear to be moving away from the decentralised finance. Donald Trump called crypto a scam earlier this week, but also suggested it could become a rival currency to the dollar. China has cracked down on cryptocurrency in the country, banning a number of Bitcoin accounts from Weibo, a Twitter-like social media site. The campaign against crypto is likely to become enshrined in Chinese law, meaning businesses could be classed as illegal for using it. This move comes as China rolls out its own digital currency. Its not clear that Chinas crackdown is the only reason that the price has plummeted, however. Dropping by over 10 percent overnight, millions of dollars have been wiped from the market - but experts had predicted a positive week for the currency. The president of El Salvador recently announced that the nation was considering introducing Bitcoin as legal tender, while the NHLs San Jose Sharks began accepting crypto payments earlier this month. President Nayib Bukele from the Central American state tweeted yesterday (June 7), declaring no capital gains tax for #Bitcoin, since it will be a legal currency...Immediate permanent residence for crypto entrepreneurs.  Both these moves were viewed as signs of strength by analysts, suggesting that the price drop came as a surprise to many. However, entrepreneur Elon Musk declared last month that Bitcoin would not be accepted at his company Tesla due to climate change concerns. Mining Bitcoin - the process that allows the currency to function - uses extremely high amounts of energy. Since the announcement, the price of Bitcoin has been in steady decline. Get free email updates straight to your inbox Sign up to our free newsletter to receive our top stories twice a day as well as up to the minute breaking stories, information on coronavirus and the latest Newcastle United and Sunderland AFC football stories. It takes just seconds to sign up - just click on this link, enter your email address and follow the instructions. If you change your mind you can unsubscribe using the link at the bottom of every newsletter we send out. Find us on the British Newspaper Archive here. Simon Peters, from the finance site eToro, said that caution remains the watchword. Speaking to The Independent, he said: Professional investors remain concerned about the near-term outlook. A note from Goldman Sachs said their meetings with 25 chief investment officers of long-only and hedge funds revealed bitcoin as the least favourite asset for investment.  At this stage, its unclear exactly why the market has crashed so dramatically. Its not just Bitcoin that has been affected. The price of Dogecoin and Ethereum - two other extremely popular forms of cryptocurrency - has dropped by around 10-15%. Others, like Tether, BinanceCoin and XRD, have fallen too. Despite this, DubaiCoin, a new form of crypto, has risen by 1,000%.