Why Bitcoin is on a 3-day losing streak

For the third day running, bitcoin has continued on the bearish path, despite a vote of confidence from prominent critics like Jamie Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan. The CEO, who once called bitcoin a “fraud”, said on Tuesday that he regretted making the statement.

The price of bitcoin has declined 18 percent in the last three days on the Coindesk Price Index, extending losses to $13,355 levels on Wednesday morning – the lowest level since January 1.

As at the time of writing, the average price of bitcoin from five exchanges including bitstamp, bitfinex, Gemini, hitbtc, and kraken was $14,051.86. Transaction volumes in the last 24 hours on bitinfocharts showed that bitcoin was behind altcoins like Ripple (1,322,117) and Ethereum (1,224,667).

The market capitalisation also depreciated by 7.18 percent in the last 24 hours according to data from OnChainFX.

Regulatory push by South Korean financial authorities has been identified as one of the major fears driving investors to dump their bitcoin holdings. The country is pushing for financial audit of six of the largest financial institutions for compliance with anti-money laundering laws. A report from the Wall Street Journal indicated that South Korea authorities have commenced on-the-spot investigations of financial institutions to ensure compliance these laws. The report quoted the head of Financial Services in the country as saying that it had drafted regulation that was under consideration in the country’s National Assembly.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Gabor Gurbacs, director of digital-asset strategy at VanEck Associates Corp said “News on the regulatory front is dragging down cryptos. South Korea and China tightening is weighing on bitcoin and in the ICO market, things started slowing down, with the SEC cracking down on illegal offerings.”

A January 8^th report, from South Korean News agency, Yonhap News, noted that Financial Services Commission, the country’s top financial regulator, was considering deepening collaboration with regulators in China and Japan to curb speculative transactions of cryptocurrencies, amid global worries about a bubble.