The prices of the world’s major cryptocurrencies have tumbled as Donald Trump labels Bitcoin a “scam”.
The former United States President, who is banned from Facebook for two years and remains banned from Twitter over inflammatory comments, spoke to Fox Business about the trailblazing digital currency.
“Bitcoin, it just seems like a scam. I don’t like it because it’s another currency competing against the dollar,” he said, adding that he wanted the dollar to be “the currency of the world”.
His comments came amid news that El Salvador plans to make Bitcoin legal tender.
Bitcoin (BTC) tumbled 9% in the last 24 hours to below $33,000, which puts it 12% down on this time last week and around half of its record value set a few weeks ago.
Ethereum (ETH), which set a record price of $4,300 just last month, dropped 10% to $2,500 and is 8% down in a week.
Ripple’s XRP coin, which hit $1.91 recently, is now down at 85 cents after an 11% dip in 24 hours and 21% drop in a week.
Dogecoin (DOGE), the coin created as a crypto parody and based on a meme, dropped 13% to 32 cents. Its seven-day price is down 4%.