Bitcoin Continues Downward Spiral, Plunges Below $200

Bitcoin continues to kick off the new year on an appalling note. Just two weeks after being named the worst-performing currency of 2014 -- and only a day after opening statements took place in the trial of the Silk Road’s alleged creator -- the virtual currency has plummeted below the $200 mark. It fell with a consumer confidence-shaking thud to a low of $170.08 early this morning, down from around $244 one day earlier, nosediving by 30 percent.  

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The price of the rapidly declining cryptochash is now inching back toward $200, hovering around $194 at press time, per the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index. Bitcoin’s value hasn’t dipped below $200 since October 2013. It peaked at $1,130 in December 2013, a record high for the 4-year-old digital currency.    

Meanwhile, global Bitcoin exchange trading volumes -- mainly sell orders -- spiked amid the price crash, tripling in the number of trades per minute, according to Bitcoinity.

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The Bitcoin price freefall, along with increased mining difficulty, this week spurred Bitcoin cloud mining company CEX.IO to temporarily halt its services. “Suspension of CEX.IO cloud mining service is only a forced temporary measure, the result of cloud mining costs exceeding mining profit,” the startup stated in a Jan. 12 announcement. A CEX.IO representative told CoinDesk that the firm would only resume mining operations if the price of the virtual currency rises above $320. In the meantime, CEX.IO says it will continue operating its exchange platform.

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