Investing.com - The prices of major cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum and ripple plunged on Tuesday, recording double-digit percentage losses amid a broad based selloff.
Bitcoin was trading at $12,106 by 03:49 AM ET (08:49 AM GMT) on the Bitfinex exchange, down 10.96% from its previous close.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency by market cap, was last at $1,124.7 on the Bitfinex exchange after peaking at $1,423.20 on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Ripple's XRP token was trading at $1.41 on the Poloniex exchange, down around 23% for the day.
That pushed ethereum’s market capitalization down to $108 billion and lowered ripple’s value to $53 billion. Bitcoin remained the largest cryptocurrency by market cap with a value of $208 billion.
Cryptocurrencies have experienced a volatile start to the year after a massive rally in 2017. Increased regulatory scrutiny from South Korea has hit investor sentiment.
Cryptocurrency prices plummeted late last week following reports that South Korea may be preparing to ban all virtual currency trading in the country.
South Korea’s justice minister said the government was preparing a bill to ban trading of virtual currencies on domestic exchanges. The country is one is one of the largest markets for major coins like bitcoin and ethereum.
Cryptocurrency trading in South Korea is highly speculative and digital currencies are often traded at a premium, meaning that they are priced significantly higher in the country's exchanges than elsewhere in the world.
The South Korean government said on Monday that its plans to ban virtual coin exchanges had not yet been finalized as government agencies were still in talks to decide how to regulate the market.
South Korea’s unease over cryptocurrency trading follows drastic moves taken by China, which shuttered cryptocurrency exchanges last year and is now trying to shut operations that produce bitcoin, a process known as mining.