Bitcoin loses more than $300 on China's ban

Bitcoin came under a broad-based selling pressure at the beginning of the week with BTC/USD pair losing $320. As of writing, the pair was trading at $4275, down 7% on the day.

"On Monday, the People's Bank of China publicly denounced fundraising in new blockchain-based currency, also known as "initial coin offerings" (ICOs). The central bank said ICOs are unauthorized activities that may be rife with fraud and imposed an immediate ban of all current and upcoming ICOs," Caixin Global reported.

CNBC explains, "ICOs allow start-ups to raise investment by selling new cryptocurrencies, which are similar to bitcoin, in return for cash." During the day, other digital currencies also recorded heavy losses. Ethereum dropped more than 20%, Litecoin lost nearly 25% and BitConnect was down more than 30%.