Bitcoin price slides as officials inspect local exchange
Bitcoin tumbled to a one-month low on worries that Chinese authorities are going to tighten their oversight of the digital currency.
The price of bitcoin dropped to $759.6 on Thursday, the lowest since Dec 7, after a decline of as much as 16 percent in the previous session. It was trading down 1.6 percent as of 11:50 am in Hong Kong, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The cryptocurrency hit an all-time high of $1,161.89 on Jan 5.
Officials with the Shanghai branch of the People's Bank of China and the city's finance office conducted an on-site inspection at the BTCC online bitcoin exchange, according to a statement from the PBOC, looking for evidence of violations, such as market manipulation or money laundering, and assessing the safety of customer funds.
