Bitcoin’s biggest dip of 2018

Bitcoin’s crash in 2018 might have something that’s worthy of some elaboration. It wasn’t a regular dip, but one followed by a hack. Even though Bitcoin was not hacked, Bitcoin investors still paid a heavy price. On Monday, 10th Jul 2018, the Bitcoin price fell by 7% after hackers had stolen roughly a third of the virtual currency from Coinrail, a South Korean cryptocurrency exchange. As US regulators continue their probe into bitcoin market manipulation, another security breach has rattled investor trust.

A relatively small South Korean cryptocurrency exchange Coinrail suspended all its cryptocurrency-related activities on its platform as it cooperated with the investigation. As per the statement issued by Coinrail, the theft avoided well-known currencies like Bitcoin.

The Coinrail incident in South Korea, one of the world’s top cryptocurrency trading hubs, came just days after the Wall Street Journal revealed that US officials were looking into possible cryptocurrency price manipulation at other major exchanges. Exchanges like Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken, and itBit are included in that list. In May, the US Department of Justice opened a criminal investigation into bitcoin price manipulation, focusing on market spoofing in particular. Spoofing is a method involving traders who flood the market with fake orders to manipulate the crypto price by increasing or decreasing as per their advantage.

The anonymity of bitcoin trading has made it an appealing tool for criminals in many parts of the world. Roughly 25% of all bitcoin users and 44% of all Bitcoin transactions involved criminal activity as per the report published by popular universities in Sydney.

On a Monday morning, Bitcoin’s pricing fell more than 7%, below $6,800, following news of fresh governmental investigations and another cryptocurrency security problem. The value of Bitcoin fell 49.8% in that period.

Expert analysts state that the bearish trend is due to a combination of factors along with the Coinrail incident.They continue by mentioning that there’s no reason why a smash-and-grab operation at a neighborhood boutique should have pushed bitcoin down $1,000. In fact it is more of a technician correction.

Whatever the cause, the over-the-counter Bitcoin Investment Trust (GBTC) was down 10.5% on Monday morning. Out of concern for investor safety, the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States had refused to approve any cryptocurrency funds for listing on major U.S. exchanges. However, VanEck had announced a week prior that it would attempt a third time to establish a bitcoin exchange-traded fund that the Securities and Exchange Commission has approved.