Bitcoin slides below $40,000 after China’s ban on cryptocurrency services

Bitcoin tumbled below the $40,000 mark on Wednesday to a 3-1/2 month low as selling in digital coins intensified after China banned financial and payment institutions from providing cryptocurrency services.

Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, had already been under pressure from a series of tweets from Tesla boss Elon Musk, but the news from China sent it as low as $36,250, a 15 per cent drop in the trading session.

The cryptocurrency has tumbled 40 per cent from a record high of $64,895 hit on April 14. It is also heading for its first monthly decline since November 2018.

Bitcoin’s decline whacked other crypto assets, with Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, shedding as much as 28 per cent on Wednesday to $2,426.