Crypto Today: Bitcoin slumps to 3-month lows, down -15%

All of the top 10 cryptocurrencies (by market capitalization) are in a sea of red, as the bloodbath continues amid a series of bad news surrounding the crypto market regulation, as India joined in its Asian peers to step up measures on the use of crypto assets.

South Korean regulations took effect this week barring anonymous cryptocurrency accounts and instituting a minimum age for trading. Bloomberg reported Bitfinex and Tether were subpoenaed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week while Facebook seeks to ban all ads on its social network promoting digital currencies, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options. Today, the Japanese authorities also urged crypto markets to step up self-regulation.

According to the data from Coinmarketcap.com, Bitcoin kicked-off February on a bearish note amid a broad-based sell-off seen across the crypto space, plunging 13% on Thursday and fell below the $ 9000 mark.  Investors who bought Bitcoin at its peak of about $20,000 in December have consequentially seen their asset lose over half its value over the past month. 

At the time of writing, Bitcoin plummets 15% to print 3-month lows of $ 8,700. Meanwhile, Ethereum loses -17.35% to $ 949 and Ripple, the 3rd-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, tanks -25.41%. The total market capitalization has dropped dramatically to $ 419 billion, down almost 50% from $ 800 billion figure seen last month.