Investing.com - Major cryptocurrencies continued to trade in the red on Friday morning in Asia, extending losses following an unexpected rally the week before. Bitcoin finally lost its grip on the $5,000 level amid bearish sentiment.
Bitcoin dropped 6.59% to $4,991.2 by 12:02 PM ET (04:02 AM GMT). The digital coin had been staying above the $5,000 level since it suddenly surged on April 1 and it even reached $5,299.4 on Monday.
Ethereum lost 8.45% to $163.69, XRP dived 9.27% to $0.32176 and Litecoin plunged 13.83% to $77.878.
The crypto market cap slid further to $169 billion from $184 billion at the beginning of this week, down 8%.
The crypto market ended on a low note this week amid a bearish outlook.
Cryptocurrencies were criticised as “disruptors” that are “clearly shaking the system” by Christine Legarde, the Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.
Speaking to CNBC on Wednesday, she warned that digital tokens could act as a catalyst to shake up the banking and finance industries.
“I think the role of the disruptors and anything that is using distributed ledger technology, whether you call it crypto, assets, currencies, or whatever ... that is clearly shaking the system,” Legarde said.
She further noted that regulation should come in play to address such financial industry changes.
“We don’t want innovation that would shake the system so much that we would lose the stability that is needed,” Legarde told CNBC.
In Asia, South Korea’s leading crypto exchange Bithumb recorded a net loss of $180 million in 2018 due to a sharp decline in the crypto market. The net loss marked a huge setback from a net profit of $469 billion the year before.
Bithumb also suffered from a hack two weeks ago, losing about $13 million in the EOS cryptocurrency and about $6.2 million in XRP. The company is also reportedly downsizing to cut half of its staff in South Korea.