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BTC collapsed in mid-November, dropping below $ 4,000 (£ 3,123) for the first time in 2018, according to CoinMarketCap. The fall in prices has led cryptocurrency commentators to declare that the market is more susceptible to hacking. Speaking with Express.co.uk, industry experts have also raised the issue of the need for more regulation within the cryptographic sphere.
Paolo Passeri, architect of global solutions at Netskope, argued that the collapse of market-level encryption prices was the "catalyst" and the driving force of a recent spike in the scams of cybercrime hackers.
The encrypted aficionado explained the reason for the encouraged attitude of cybercriminals because the accident made the crypto mining "less profitable".
He said: "The catalyst that drives cybercriminals looking for new types of attacks is the decline in cryptocurrency prices, as this has made encryption a much less valuable means of obtaining the currency due to the energy costs involved.
"While price volatility continues, hackers aim to capitalize on the victims who took advantage of the recent price bubble without spending too much money to achieve their goals."
READ MORE: Bitcoin price: could it encrypt SURGE before the end of 2018?
"Hackers continue to find loopholes and employ innovative tactics to steal cryptocurrency, a recent example is an instance of SIM Swapping used to steal $ 1 million (£ 784.7000) in digital resources from a Silicon business man Valley.
"The attack on Robert Ross involved a form of social engineering, with 21-year-old cybercriminal Nicola Truglia, impersonating Ross and obtaining a new SIM from the victim's operator, then using the new number to go through the ; phone-based authentication providing access to cryptographic portfolios.
"This form of attack is relatively new, but in recent months there has been a huge increase in its use in order to steal cryptocurrencies".
The comments were echoed by bitcoin economist Dr Saifedean Ammous who wrote in a tweet on Sunday: "This bear market is a test for the security model of Bitcoin: if the price continues to fall while chip makers continue to progressing in making processing power cheaper, bitcoin attack becomes progressively cheaper. "
Herbert Sim, chief commercial officer of Cryptology, said the recent price collapse meant that more regulation was needed in the cryptocurrency space.
READ MORE: Bitcoin price CRASH: Crypto to suffer more losses NEXT WEEK
He said: "The cryptocurrencies continue to plummet, sweeping about 700 billion dollars from the market in just one year.
"This movement from cryptocurrency activities is a clear demonstration of the need for more regulatory oversight in order to restore investor confidence.
"This is no longer a niche market – most of the big institutions have investigated or involved in cryptographic space for quite some time, so why have we allowed it to continue to be such a volatile market?"
Defining his stand for a bright future for cryptocurrencies, he added: "Supervising the cryptocurrency" Wild West "will legitimize, and subsequently stabilize the industry.
"Regardless of price fluctuations, the cryptocurrency community is here to stay, and it is becoming more mainstream.
READ MORE: Bitcoin price crash: "BTC's fortunes will change!"
"Institutions are offering new ways of trading such as options, futures and margin trades that resemble more legitimate business practices in the traditional financial sector."
The CEO of eToro and the president of CryptoUK Iqbal V. Gandham are in agreement with Mr Sim.
He told Express.co.uk: "If we have mass market adoption and mass market awareness, we need the mass market consumer on board.
"And that consumer will not come on board unless there is a level of protection.
"We have checks and balances when people buy stocks, we have checks and balances when people buy gold – we apply the same checks and balances to cryptographic resources".
