Cryptocurrency Crash -50% Bitcoin and Ethereum Crash 50% Time To Buy?Bitcoin price falls after China calls for crackdown on bitcoin mining and trading behavior.

Bitcoin’s price tumbled Friday following an intensified call from Chinese authorities to crack down on mining and trading of the cryptocurrency.

Chinese Vice Premier Liu He and the State Council said in a statement that tighter regulation is needed to protect the financial system.

The statement, released late Friday in China, said it is necessary to “crack down on Bitcoin mining and trading behavior, and resolutely prevent the transmission of individual risks to the social field.”

Bitcoin’s price on Coin Metrics slid more than 8.5% as news of the statement circulated, part of a broader plunge that has seen the digital currency tumble more than 40% from its peak. Other cryptos suffered huge losses as well, with Ethereum and Dogecoin both down more than 11% amid a continuing washout in prices for the group.

China’s tough talk comes just a day after U.S. officials pledged to get tough on those using bitcoin to conduct “illegal activity broadly including tax evasion.” The Treasury Department said it will require reporting on crypto transfers of more than $10,000, just as with cash.

Concerns in China centered on a number of issues. Much of bitcoin mining is done there by computer that use massive amounts of energy to solve complex math problems to unlock the cryptocurrency.

Authorities around the world have expressed worries over how bitcoin and its counterparts are used in illicit ways.

“It is necessary to maintain the smooth operation of the stock, debt, and foreign exchange markets, severely crack down on illegal securities activities, and severely punish illegal financial activities,” the statement said.

As part of its efforts to streamline the burgeoning digital currency space, China’s central bank has been one of the first in the world to develop its own digital currency backed by the yuan. The U.S. Federal Reserve said Thursday it will soon release a paper outlining its own research into the central bank digital currency area.

U.S. Treasury calls for stricter cryptocurrency compliance with IRS, says they pose tax evasion risk
The Treasury Department on Thursday announced that it is taking steps to crack down on cryptocurrency markets and transactions, and said it will require any transfer worth $10,000 or more to be reported to the Internal Revenue Service.

“Cryptocurrency already poses a significant detection problem by facilitating illegal activity broadly including tax evasion,” the Treasury Department said in a release.

“This is why the President’s proposal includes additional resources for the IRS to address the growth of cryptoassets,” the department added. “Within the context of the new financial account reporting regime, cryptocurrencies and cryptoasset exchange accounts and payment service accounts that accept cryptocurrencies would be covered. Further, as with cash transactions, businesses that receive cryptoassets with a fair market value of more than $10,000 would also be reported on.”

Bitcoin reversed course shortly after the Treasury’s announcement and was last seen trading up 1.6%, according to Coin Metrics. Previously in the session, it was up more than 9%.

A growing number of Wall Street analysts have over the past month sounded the alarm that regulators at the Treasury and the Securities and Exchange Commission could soon take a more active role in cryptocurrency regulation.

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