Just 11 months ago, bitcoin reached a record price of nearly $20,000. Now it’s worth $4,300, its lowest level for more than a year. The immediate problem has been a so-called “hard fork” in the bitcoin Cash, a form of bitcoin. Two software developers are in dispute, which has caused the creation of a new version of bitcoin Cash.
The episode has underscored “the sometimes chaotic nature of a crypto community racked by infighting”, say Samuel Potter and Todd White on Bloomberg. A regulatory clampdown isn’t helping either, while the novelty of the cryptocurrency also appears to be wearing off. The use of bitcoin for commercial payments has dropped by 80% this year, according to Reuters.