The platform of south Korean foreign currency exchange cryptographic Youbit is declared bankrupt (Photo by Anthony WALLACE. AFP)
The price of bitcoin has plummeted Wednesday morning in Asia, falling briefly below $ 16,000 the unit, before rising a little, on the bottom including bankruptcy on the eve of a platform for the exchange of south korea stating you have been hacked.
The bitcoin fell to 15.815, $ 78 Wednesday, at 9H39 Tokyo time (00H39 GMT), while it stood at nearly 18.800 $ Tuesday early evening and it seemed to be Monday yet close to reaching the 20,000 dollars, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
The virtual currency has erased part of its losses, worth around 16.830 $ to 13: 30 (0430 GMT).
“The market is affected both by the news of the hacking of the platform in south korea and by adjustments of positions (investors, editor’s NOTE) after the recent increases” in the price of bitcoin, according Raita Yamaguchi, consultant of the Nomura Research Institute interviewed by the AFP.
Rather than the bursting of a speculative bubble, “this is a correction of short-term, was completely predictable”, argues Thomas Glucksmann, head of marketing of the platform for the exchange Gatecoin based in Hong Kong, cited by Bloomberg.
Tuesday, Youbit, a platform for exchange of cryptomonnaies in South Korea, where the bitcoin is particularly popular, filed for bankruptcy, claiming to have been a victim of hacking had made him lose 17% of its assets, eight months after a cyber-attack similar.
In addition, the United States, the gendarme u.s. stock exchange (SEC) announced Tuesday the suspension of the listing of Crypto, a company presenting itself as linked to the technology “blockchain” to the origin of bitcoin and other crypto-currencies, due to suspicions of manipulations of its course.
The price of bitcoin has soared in recent weeks, while it hovered around $ 1,000 a unit in the beginning of the year.
Unlike the dollar or the euro, it is not issued by central Banks, but “mined”, or created, by computers using algorithms complex. The big banks, which with the bitcoin no longer play their traditional role of intermediaries in financial transactions, criticized in particular the lack of transparency in the fixation of its price.
