More bad news pushes bitcoin’s value below $9,000

Source Marc van der Chijs

Bitcoin's month-long price slide continued on Thursday as the virtual currency fell below $9,000 for the first time since November. As we publish this article, one bitcoin is worth $8,700. That's down 12 percent over the last 24 hours and 55 percent from December's peak of $19,500.

The latest price decline comes amid growing concerns that the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem has become rife with scams and other questionable behavior. None of these developments have been focused on bitcoin specifically, but the cryptocurrency ecosystem is highly interconnected. All the other major cryptocurrencies have suffered losses over the last 24 hours, and many virtual currencies have seen their value decline by double digits.

The first bit of bad news this week was Facebook's announcement that it was restricting cryptocurrency ads on its various platforms.

"We want people to continue to discover and learn about new products and services through Facebook ads without fear of scams or deception," Facebook wrote. Facebook described the policy as "intentionally broad" and listed "use your retirement funds to buy bitcoin" as an example of a cryptocurrency ad that wouldn't pass muster under the policy.

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by TIMOTHY B. LEE
Source https://arstechnica.com