China banned fundraising by selling digital coins, known as initial coin offerings, and plans to ban trading of bitcoin and other virtual currencies on domestic exchanges. After reaching a record high of $4,921 on 1 September, the digital currency fell as low as $2,975 on 15 September. “The efficacy of any bitcoin ban is pretty dubious,” said Van Valkenburgh. The US dollar is now the most traded currency against bitcoin, accounting for 54% of total volume in the past six months. Bitcoin slumped almost 20% in the two days after Chinese authorities did on-site inspections of bitcoin exchanges early January and slumped again after China’s central bank took steps to prevent withdrawals of the cryptocurrency in February.

Source: Mint September 19, 2017 04:41 UTC