The crypto-currency market woke up in shock on Tuesday (16), with virtually all digital currencies falling strongly, pushing Bitcoin to its lowest level since December.
Tension continues to come from Asia, where both China and South Korea are threatening to suspend trading in the exchanges.
The negative move came after new comments from South Korea's economy minister, Kim Dong-yeon, who in an interview with a local radio station said the government is already working on measures to contain the "irrationality" motivated by crypto-coins. According to him, closing the local exchanges is still an option.
Meanwhile, according to Reuters, a member of the Chinese central bank said authorities should ban centralized trading of virtual currencies as well as individuals and companies providing related services, according to an internal memo from a government meeting seen by the news agency itself.
In the memo, describing the details of the discussions at a meeting of Internet regulators and other policymakers last week, the deputy director of the Central Bank of China (PBOC) Pan Gongsheng said the government would continue to exert pressure on trade of the virtual currency in order to avoid the accumulation of risks in that market.
Despite all this panic in the market, this "correction was already more than expected". In December, Bitcoin fired more than 100% in a few days and soon began to fall sharply and since then has not had the strength to recover.
This is not the first time the market has gone through this. Between 2012 and 2013, the price of bitcoin rose 85-fold, a move that continued for a few months of that year, to fall by 72% in 2014 and reach the level of US $ 320. By 2015, the digital currency dropped to US $ 150.
Late on Tuesday, Bitcoin was down almost 20%, retreating to $ 11,688, while other major digital currencies also sank, for Ethereum, with losses of 18%, and Ripple, collapsing 25%.
Here we are in 2018 and the market is all in the red today. Most of those bought in cryptos have never seen a bear market. Will we see a rerun of 2014 this year? Do not know. But a correction was more than expected.
It is not a time for panic, and it is also a window of opportunity to buy for those who follow a strategy focused on long term and eye on average price. In addition, this generalized drop also reinforces the lesson for those who are excited about the market: "This is a reminder that crypto-coins are a much more risky asset class than traditional investments.