Bitcoin tumbles below $30,000 on China crypto-crackdown
Bitcoin has fallen below $30,000 for the first time in more than five months, hit by China's crackdown on the world's most popular cryptocurrency.
The digital currency slipped to about $28,890, and has lost more than 50% of its value since reaching an all-time high of $64,870 in April.
On Monday, China's central bank said it had recently summoned several major banks and payments companies to call on them to take tougher action over the trading of cryptocurrencies.
Banks were told to not provide products or services such as trading, clearing and settlement for cryptocurrency transactions, the People's Bank of China said in a statement.
China's third-largest lender by assets, the Agricultural Bank of China, said it was following the PBOC's guidance and would conduct due diligence on clients to root out illegal activities involving cryptocurrency mining and transactions.
The mobile and online payments platform Alipay, which is owned by Chinese financial technology giant Ant Group, said it would set up a monitoring system to detect illegal cryptocurrency transactions.
