Cryptocurrencies News: Bitcoin Sinks, Ethereum and Ripple also Plunge, and More

Why the Price of Bitcoin, Ethereum and Litecoin Just Tanked (Vice News)
The price of bitcoin dropped as much as 20 percent early Tuesday after regulators in South Korea repeated warnings they may ban cryptocurrency trading. Cryptocurrencies across the board took a hit, with all of the top 100 digital coins listed by CoinMarketCap dropping in value. More than $160 billion was wiped off the value of all cryptocurrencies listed by the website in the space of 10 hours, highlighting the remarkable volatility in the market.

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The Bad News Bears Come for Bitcoin (Barron’s)
Bitcoin isn’t just taking hits from regulators. A research paper on bitcoin price manipulation is also making the rounds. Neil Gandal, JT Hamrick, Tyler Moore, and Tali Oberman recently published “Price Manipulation in the Bitcoin Ecosystem” in the Journal of Monetary Economics, which found that a single person likely drove bitcoin prices to $1,000 from $150 in just two months. Their work also shows that trading volume across exchanges ticked up on days where there was suspicious activity.

Bitcoin bombs, cryptocoins crash on regulation fears (Rappler.com)
PARIS, France – Bitcoin, the best known of hundreds of ‘virtual’ coins, slumped on Tuesday, January 16, to a 6-week low below $12,000 as analysts blamed a rush by various jurisdictions to regulate the sector. The final weeks of last year were marked by bitcoin mania as the unit topped $20,000, but it lost some 20% in Tuesday trading which saw most of its fellow cryptocurrencies similarly wilt. “Bitcoin has dropped below $12,000, a level not seen since early December. The cryptocurrency has fallen nearly 40 percent since its all-time high,” noted David Madden, market analyst with CMC Markets.

Goldman FX Trader Joins Cryptocurrency Broker (FNLondon)
An executive director from Goldman Sachs has left the US banking powerhouse to join a UK cryptocurrency broker, marking another step in the professionalisation of the fledgling sector. Phillip Gillespie, who joined Goldman in 2015, is to become chief executive of B2C2’s cryptocurrency operations in Japan. Gillespie will start at the firm on January 29. The move comes as cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, have evolved from instruments associated with money laundering towards greater legitimacy. Last month, Cboe Global Markets and CME Group, two of world’s biggest derivatives exchanges, launched their own bitcoin futures contracts with enthusiasts contending the introduction will attract institutional and professional traders.