BITCOIN DIPS 18% ON FEARS OF CRACKDOWN

LONDON: Bitcoin tumbled 18% on Tuesday to a four-week trough close to $11,000, after reports that a ban on trading of cryptocurrencies in South Korea was still an option drove fears of a regulatory crackdown. Bitcoin’s slide triggered a massive sell-off across the broader cryptocurrency market, with biggest rival Ethereum down 23% on the day, according to trade website Coinmarketcap, and the next-biggest, Ripple, plunging 33%. South Korean news website Yonhap reported that finance minister Kim Dong-yeon had told a local radio station that the government would be coming up with measures to clamp down on the “irrational” cryptocurrency investment craze.