Investing.com - Cryptocurrency prices plunged on Tuesday, with Ethereum down more than 9%, while Litecoin and Ripple slumped 7%.
Bitcoin was down 2.8% to $6,317.8 at 12:30AM ET (04:30 GMT) on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ethereum plunged 9.3% to $275.1 on the Bitifinex exchange.
Ripple slumped 7.5% to $0.32155 in the last 24 hours on the Poloniex exchange, while Litecoin was also down 7.5% to $53.935.
Reports this week revealed that Coinbase, the most well-known cryptocurrency trading platform in the U.S., saw its trading volume plunged by 83% to $3.9 billion from their all-time high of nearly $21 billion in January.
The research came after Bernstein said in a report titled “Crypto Trading – the Next Big Thing is Here” over the weekend that Coinbase may end up with an “unassailable competitive position” as traditional financial firms are unlikely to push into crypto spot trading in the near future as they are concerned over regulations and money laundering.
In other news, State-backed Bank of China (BOC) has signed a deal with China UnionPay to jointly develop a blockchain-enabled payment system
The system is expected to provide more opportunities for cooperation between enterprises, particularly in cross-border digital payments, the BOC said.
“The two parties will continue to take advantage of their respective fields, actively implement the requirements of mobile payment convenience demonstration projects, deepen all-round cooperation in the field of mobile payment, promote the healthy and rapid development of the payment industry, and provide intelligent, open, integrated and characteristic digital mobile finance for customers,” the bank said in a statement.
Elsewhere, the UK Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) updated its warning on cryptocurrency-related scams, as it has been getting a rising number of complaints in recent months.
In some cases, the fraud involves FCA-regulated activities, such as offering investment products with cryptocurrencies as an underlying asset. In most cases these are advertised on social media, the guidelines stated.