![](https://static.independent.co.uk/s3fs-public/thumbnails/image/2018/08/14/16/bitcoin-price-crash-cryptocurrency-suicide.jpg)
Support forums for suicide prevention are shared on cryptographic forums among bitcoin investors' mental health concerns after a severe market crisis.
The bitcoin price fell to around $ 6,000 on Tuesday, compared to $ 8,000 at the beginning of August. At its peak in December 2017, the bitcoin was trading at nearly $ 20,000, after increasing by about 1,900 percentage points in 2017.
These drastic gains saw interest in the bitcoin peak when new investors rushed to buy cryptocurrency in hopes of making a quick profit. In early January, however, the price of bitcoin dropped to about half its value in a few weeks.
Since then it has continued to slide, in what has been the worst cryptocurrency ever since a year since its creation in 2009. Previous collapse in prices have led to reports of people who take life in relation to cryptocurrency, pushing people to share links and phone numbers to support services.
The volatile history of Bitcoin in the images
1/8 Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009
On January 3, 2009 the bitcoin genesis block appeared. It was less than a year after the pseudonym creator Satoshi Nakamoto described the cryptocurrency in a document titled "Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system"
Reuters
2/8 Bitcoin is used as currency for the first time
On May 22, 2010 the first bitcoin transaction took place in the real world. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $ 90 million at today's prices
Lazlo Hanyecz
3/8 Silk Road opens for business
Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the obscure web. The Silk Road market, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoins
4/8 The first ATM bitcoin appears
On October 29, 2013, the first ATM bitcoin was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine has allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash
REUTERS / Dimitris Michalakis
5/8 The fall of MtGox
The biggest bitcoin exchange in the world, MtGox, has filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing nearly 750,000 of its bitcoin customers. At that time, this was about 7% of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed
Getty Images
6/8 The real Satoshi Nakamoto would stand up
In 2015, the police Australian broke into Craig Wright's house after the businessman claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Subsequently rescinds the affirmation
Getty Images
7/8 The great division of Bitcoin
On August 1, 2017, an unresolvable controversy within the bitcoin community has seen the division of the network. Bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology fork has created a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin crate
REUTERS
8/8 Bitcoin price rockets
By the end of 2017, the bitcoin price is rose to almost $ 20,000. This represented an increase of 1,300% compared to its price at the beginning of the year
Reuters
1/8 Satoshi Nakamoto creates the first bitcoin block in 2009
On 3 January 2009, the block of genesis of bitcoins appeared. It was less than a year after the pseudonym creator Satoshi Nakamoto described the cryptocurrency in a document titled "Bitcoin: a peer-to-peer electronic cash system"
Reuters
2/8 Bitcoin is used as currency for the first time
On May 22, 2010 the first bitcoin transaction took place in the real world. Lazlo Hanyecz bought two pizzas for 10,000 bitcoins – the equivalent of $ 90 million at today's prices
Lazlo Hanyecz
3/8 Silk Road opens for business
Bitcoin soon gained notoriety for its use on the obscure web. The Silk Road market, established in 2011, was the first of hundreds of sites to offer illegal drugs and services in exchange for bitcoins
4/8 The first ATM bitcoin appears
On October 29, 2013, the first ATM bitcoin was installed in a coffee shop in Vancouver, Canada. The machine allowed people to exchange bitcoins for cash
REUTERS / Dimitris Michalakis
5/8 The fall of MtGox
The biggest bitcoin exchange in the world, MtGox, filed for bankruptcy in February 2014 after losing nearly 750,000 of its bitcoin customers. At that time, this was about 7% of all bitcoins and the market inevitably crashed
Getty Images
6/8 The real Satoshi Nakamoto would stand up
In 2015, the police Australian broke into Craig Wright's house after the businessman claimed to be Satoshi Nakamoto. Subsequently rescinds the affirmation
Getty Images
7/8 The great division of Bitcoin
On August 1, 2017, an unresolvable controversy within the bitcoin community has seen the division of the network. Bitcoin's underlying blockchain technology fork has created a new cryptocurrency: Bitcoin crate
REUTERS
8/8 Bitcoin price rockets
By the end of 2017, the bitcoin price is rose to almost $ 20,000. This represented an increase of 1,300% compared to its price at the beginning of the year
Reuters
The latest incident reports the bitcoins at the same prices traded in November 2017, however investors in other cryptocurrencies were the most affected. In the last 24 hours, the money of ethereum and bitcoin has plummeted by almost 20%, due to the speculation of a mass sale
The fall in prices has raised new concerns for people who may have lost large sums of money . A post on the popular Reddit r / cryptocurrency forum shared support numbers and links to the website for the US suicide care line and the National Alliance on Mental Illness.
"If you think you might be a suicide and live in the United States, I urge you to call the Hotline Suicide at 800-273-8255 or browse Suicide Prevention Lifeline for a live chat and additional resources.
Some cryptocurrency analysts have also warned that the market crash may not be over yet
"Looking to the future, I do not think we are still at the end of the cycle, and I can see bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies continue to fall before a significant return, "said Clement Thibault, a senior analyst on that investment platform Investing.com.
However, others believe that the technology behind bitcoin and other large cryptocurrencies means that there is a good chance that markets will recover
"Although market fluctuations of this type are not rare, they are often extremely discouraging for investors who have not overcome the cryptic volatility storm," said Sheffield Clark, CEO of Bitcoin, Coinsource's ATM operator.
The huge amount of new money entered the market at the end of last year, when the sector was booming, and those new investors are probably suffering right now, like any believer in this technology he will say, however, bitcoin is not going away. "
For US readers, the National Lifeline number for suicide prevention is 1-800-273-8255 and the Crisis Text Line is 741741 . If you have been affected by this article in the United Kingdom, you can contact the following organizations as support:
mind.org.uk
nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth
mentalhealth .org.uk [19659066] samaritans.org