Bitcoin extends slide with more than 10% fall

london - The currency has lost almost half its value so far in 2018

Bitcoin, the world's best-known cryptocurrency, fell more than 10 per cent on Monday and approached three-month lows on concerns about a global regulatory clampdown on the trading of the digital coins.

On the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, Bitcoin traded as low as $7,289 by 1430 GMT, having now fallen by more than half from a peak of almost $20,000 hit in December.

Its January slide knocked $46.1 billion off the $200 billion in market value generated in all of last year, according to historical pricing data from Coinmarketcap.com. The drop is the biggest one-month loss in dollar terms in the short history of digital assets.

The currency, which surged more than 1,300 per cent last year, has lost almost half its value so far in 2018, as more governments and banks signal their intention to crack down. Last week, it suffered its worst weekly performance since 2013.

Other cryptocurrencies also suffered double-digit declines in their prices on Monday, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com.

British bank Lloyds Banking Group said on Sunday it was banning customers from buying Bitcoin using credit cards.

It joined US banking giants JPMorgan Chase & Co and Citigroup who announced similar bans on concerns the lenders could be held liable when the volatile currencies plunge in value.

And on Monday, India said it was planning steps to make virtual currencies illegal within its payments system and to regulate the trading of crypto assets.

"Cryptocurrencies have seriously fallen out of favour since the middle of December and constant negative news flow and speculation of increased regulation has exacerbated the move lower, much in the same way that the constant flow of positive news stories aided the explosion higher," Craig Erlam, an analyst at currency broker Oanda, said. - Agencies