How much difference can a year make. Last year at this time, bitcoin was in the middle of a 217% rally that saw its peak in value close to $ 20,000 in December.

Now the largest cryptocurrency can not remain above $ 4000 – losing nearly 35% in value this week and reaching its lowest level from September 2007 to $ 3,477.58 on Sunday, according to CoinDesk data.

It rebounded to $ 3,661.95 at noon on Sunday, but is still down 12.8% from its 24-hour opening hours. Other cryptocurrencies also languished. The XRP fell 15 percent from its 24-hour opening hours, while Ethereum and Litecoin both were down more than 12 percent, according to CoinDesk.

This week's sell-off marked the biggest one-week decline since April 2013, when Bitcoin lost more than 44% of its value, according to CoinDesk.

The most recent cryptocurrency problems started in mid-November, when they fell below $ 6,000. This was a relatively stable return from October, when US actions were hammered.

The enthusiasm of bitcoins has decreased dramatically since the last holiday season. The cryptocurrency rose from $ 6,088.35 in mid-November 2017 to $ 19,326.49 on December 17, 2017. Since the beginning of the year in 2018, bitcoin has declined by more than 72%.

Cryptocurrencies in general are facing greater regulatory control by putting pressure on their values.

In mid-November, the Securities and Exchange Commission issued its first civil sanctions against a cryptocurrency company. Both CarrierEQ, which does business like Airfox, and Paragon Coin have established themselves with the registration violation agency as part of a broader SEC crackdown on fraud and abuse in the industry.

Quoting three anonymous sources, Bloomberg News also reported last week that the US Department of Justice is investigating whether market manipulation caused bitcoin rallies in 2017.

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