Crypto Today: Bitcoin plunges amid broad crypto sell-off

The world’s largest cryptocurrency, Bitcoin, extended its run of losses for the third straight session and hit fresh two-week lows of $ 9,761 earlier today, on its way to book the worst monthly slide since December 2013.

The renewed selling interest in Bitcoin gathered pace, in response to a broad-based sell-off in the cryptocurrencies space, after Bloomberg reported a source midday Tuesday, as saying that Bitfinex and Tether were subpoenaed by the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last week. Tether claims to link its coins to major government-backed currencies while bloggers accuse Tether of creating the asset out of thin air.

Additionally, the sentiment was also dented by the latest news that Facebook is planning to ban all ads on its social network promoting digital currencies, initial coin offerings (ICOs) and binary options, warning they’re “frequently associated with misleading or deceptive promotional practices.”

Meanwhile, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced Tuesday it obtained a court order to freeze the assets of an initial coin offering claiming to have raised $600 million.

Benjamin Roberts, co-founder, and CEO of Citizen Hex, an Ethereum-focused start-up, attributes the declines to uncertainty around Bitcoin’s ability to improve transaction efficiency and the future development of Ethereum.

All of the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap are in a sea of red, with NEM, the 10th-largest cryptocurrency with a market capitalization of $6.73 billion, hit the hardest, now dropping -16.10%. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is down -9% at $ 10,109, Ethereum loses -7.50% while Ripple tanks -12% so far this Wednesday.

Meanwhile, the cryptocurrency market cap decreased to $ 501 billion, with that of Bitcoin eroded sharply to $ 170 billion.