Investing.com - Bitcoin and other virtual coins were lower on Thursday, as a cryptocurrency sell-off continued.
Bitcoin was trading at $6,723.90, decreasing 5.34% as of 8:09 AM ET (12:09 GMT) the Bitfinex exchange. The virtual currency is far from its peak of $20,000 in December 2017 and has struggled to recover since falling below $6,000 in February.
The decline in prices has lead to some speculation that the price of Bitcoin could dip as low as $4,000.
"Don’t expect prices to bounce until we fall into the $4k range. Then and only then will it be safe to buy the bounce,” said Jani Ziedins of Cracked Market.
The total market cap of cryptocurrencies has also fallen to $256 billion from $280 billion on Wednesday, according to data from coinmarketcap.
In other news, Japan is looking to close a crypto transfer loophole and require foreign corporation and individual to report any digital currency transaction of more than $283,000 or more. Current laws only require a declaration of yen or foreign currency transactions.
“If the regulations are clear, it will be easier for everyone to use cryptocurrency as a means of payment,” a Japanese Ministry of Finance official told a local newspaper. Japan is the only country in the world that recognizes virtual currencies as a financial asset.
Other virtual currencies were down, with rival Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, falling 2.01 % to $377.87 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third largest virtual currency, decreased 4.16% to $0.48495 while $$$/LTC was at $117.56, a decline of 3.09%.