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Dec. 26 (NBD) -- The price of Bitcoin has tumbled over 80 percent from the peak on December 17 last year. 

The cryptocurrency slumped to 3751.8 U.S. dollars on crypto exchange Bitstamp in Wednesday trading as of press time.

Early in 2009, 1,300 Bitcoin were worth about 1 U.S. dollars, but then the value of the currency rocketed to nearly 20,000 U.S. dollars at the end of 2017, which significantly uplifted the whole market.

However, this year, the global digital currency markets were severely hit by a series of issues including tightened regulations of virtual currencies and trade safety risks.

Chinese regulator urged to shut down all digital currency exchanges early in September, 2017. 

In the U.S., SEC fined two cryptocurrency-related enterprises in mid-November, 2018, and the Department of Justice commenced a probe into possible price manipulation in the sudden surge of Bitcoin price at the end of last year.

This March, some overseas Bitcoin users posted on social media unknown illegal transaction records they found in their accounts.

The following investigation revealed that hackers used phishing websites to obtain access to account information and transfered VIA tokens from those accounts. By placing large orders in the VIA/BTC market, they pushed up the currency price and sold the tokens at high price.

As a result, Bitcoin plunged from 10,722 U.S. dollars to 8,577 U.S. dollars, representing a sharp drop of 20 percent.

On May 22, 2018, U.S.-based cryptocurrency trading platform Taylor reportedly suffered a cyber attack, which led to a 12 percent fall of Bitcoin price. A hacker stole 2,579.98 ETH (1.35 million U.S. dollars) raised by the project during its recently conducted ICO.

The currency eased further following the news that South Korean exchange Coinrail had also been hacked on June 8, diving to 6,749 U.S. dollars.

The blockchain technology has stepped into the spotlight since cryptocurrency boomed.

Though Bitcoin is regarded as the most classic and first successful application of blockchain, insiders believe the digital currency sector is a market for speculation, not for value investment.

In fact, the technology has been combined with other businesses in the financial fields. The blockchain projects released in 2018 involved securities, insurance, credit investigation, payment and trading platforms.

Such emerging technology can be applied in more fields, but it takes a long process from promotion to application. 

Insiders held the burst of bubbles in Bitcoin and other digital currency markets would contribute to the rational development of blockchain.

Email: zhanglingxiao@nbd.com.cn