The value of bitcoin plunged last week, amid fears that trading was about to be banned in South Korea.
The volatile cryptocurrency hit a record high when it passed $19,850 in mid-December, but then tumbled rapidly, falling to below $12,000 within days
It is worth $9,942 as of Wednesday afternoon UK time,
Its value is down more than 14 per cent from a week ago and more than 24 per cent from a month ago, and up more than 935 per cent from a year ago.
Bitcoin has no central bank and isn’t linked to or regulated by any state.
An anonymised record of every bitcoin transaction is stored on a huge public ledger known as a blockchain.
However, transactions made with the cryptocurrency are irreversible, which makes investors in bitcoin attractive targets for cybercriminals.