Investing.com – Cryptocurrencies’ prices plunged on Thursday as sell-off continued, with Bitcoin dropping below the $8,000 mark. The popular digital currency has struggled to find its footing after attempts to rally above $11,000 to $12,000 zone earlier in the month were met with selling resistance.
Bitcoin was trading at $7,890.4 by 11:30pm ET on the Bitfinex exchange, down 13.3% over the previous 24 hours.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, plunged 15.1% at $584.75 on the Bitfinex exchange.
XRP/USD’s XRP token dived 18.4% to $0.64396 on the Poloniex exchange.
Meanwhile, Litecoin was trading 12.5% lower at $154.77.
Reports that Google (NASDAQ:GOOGL) GOOGL said on Wednesday that it would ban all crypto-related ads continued to be cited as catalyst for the selling as the news deepened negative sentiment around the crypto industry. The news followed a similar move by Facebook in January. Major banks including JPMorgan and Bank of America also banned crypto purchases on their credit cards earlier in the year.
Meanwhile, Europe-based insurer Allianz Global Investors' comment generated some attention as it said it is a matter of when, not if, the Bitcoin bubble would pop, adding that Bitcoin is “worthless” even if the blockchain technology has some value to investors.
“In our view, its intrinsic value must be zero,” Stefan Hofrichter, the company’s head of global economics and strategy, wrote in a recent web post. “A bitcoin is a claim on nobody – in contrast to, for instance, sovereign bonds, equities or paper money – and it does not generate any income stream.”