Investing.com - Bitcoin and other virtual currencies continued to fall on Wednesday as Google banned cryptocurrency-related advertising across its platforms.
Bitcoin was trading at $8,685.40, slumping 3.65% as of 7:38 AM ET (11:38 GMT) on the Bitfinex, not far from its low of $8,462.00 on Sunday. The cryptocurrency has struggled to gain ground after falling to $6,000 in early February and is far from its peak of $20,000 in December.
Other virtual currencies were down, with rival Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, falling 4.75% to $660.60 on the Bitfinex exchange. Ripple, the third largest virtual currency, was down 2.97% to $0.74000 while Litecoin was last at $166.78, a decrease of 3.76%.
Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL) Inc, the parent company of Google, announced on Wednesday that it is banning advertisements for cryptocurrencies starting in June. A similar ban went into effect by Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) earlier this year.
"We don't have a crystal ball to know where the future is going to go with cryptocurrencies, but we've seen enough consumer harm or potential for consumer harm that it's an area that we want to approach with extreme caution," said Scott Spencer, Google’s director of sustainable ads.
While the ban is weighing on digital currency prices, the announcement “will simply serve to protect the ill-informed making bad decisions and bring market stability, rather than put a stranglehold on cryptocurrency trading,” said Marcus Taylor, CEO of broker platform BrokerNotes.
Meanwhile traders have turned their attention to the G20 finance summit next week in Argentina, where central bankers and leaders are expected to discuss cryptocurrencies. Participants are expected to discuss the role of digital currency in money laundering and the potential of financial stability. Regulators around the world have struggled to regulate the virtual currencies as they have gained in popularity and become more volatile.