[ti:Bitcoin Loses Half of Its Value] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.20]The price of Bitcoin dropped below $10,000 on Wednesday. [00:06.96]Bitcoin is the world's best-known cryptocurrency. [00:11.80]But, it has lost half of its value from the record price set last month. [00:19.08]The digital currency was valued at over $19,000 last December. [00:26.64]On Wednesday, Bloomberg financial service [00:30.32]said the price dropped to about $9,600. [00:36.84]Charles Hayter is a founder of Cryptocompare, [00:41.08]a business that owns cryptocurrencies. [00:45.56]He told Reuters, "There is a lot of panic in the market. People are selling." [00:52.56]He said the fall in the value of bitcoin is related to uncertainty [00:57.56]about whether governments will try to set rules for its use. [01:03.24]Bitcoin is different from national currencies, [01:06.52]which are supported by governments and central banks. [01:11.28]Bitcoin is stored as a line of computer code. [01:15.44]It is not printed on paper or something you can hold like a coin. [01:21.64]Computers keep a global record of how each bitcoin is exchanged [01:27.08]so that ownership and transactions can be confirmed. [01:32.52]Last week, the South Korean government said that it is considering measures [01:37.84]to ban trading of cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin. [01:43.76]Officials also are expected to debate the rise of bitcoin [01:48.44]at the upcoming G20 summit, [01:51.08]a meeting of the world's major economic powers, in Argentina in March. [01:57.36]In January 2017, one bitcoin was worth around $1,000. [02:05.40]In April, the Japanese government recognized bitcoin [02:09.80]as a legal currency for settlement of debts. [02:14.40]As Venezuela's national currency loses value, [02:18.72]Venezuelans have increasingly turned to bitcoin for daily use. [02:24.28]And North Korean computer hackers are believed [02:27.68]to be stealing bitcoins from exchanges in South Korea. [02:33.68]The digital currency reached its highest level in December [02:37.76]after the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission [02:41.52]permitted trading in bitcoin futures. [02:45.64]Futures are financial agreements for trading valuable property at set prices. [02:53.52]Warren Buffett is an influential American investor [02:57.76]and one of the richest men in the world. [03:01.16]Last week, he warned: "In terms of cryptocurrencies, generally, [03:07.16]I can say with almost certainty that they will come to a bad ending." [03:13.52]Some observers say the recent drop in value [03:17.36]shows that bitcoin was overpriced. [03:21.24]Others welcome government rules [03:23.72]and expect the extreme price changes to continue. [03:28.16]The price of bitcoin has dropped before. [03:32.96]Marc Singer is an adviser with the investment company Singer Xenos. [03:39.40]He noted that bitcoin lost 93 percent of its value in 2011 [03:45.36]and half its value in 2015. [03:49.16]Christopher Keshian is with the APEX Token Fund, an investment group. [03:55.28]He told Reuters that the sharp change in value "is an expected, [04:00.40]and important, part of the journey to becoming" an accepted asset. [04:06.08]He expected sharp changes in value to continue [04:09.72]and that the price of bitcoin would rise again. [04:13.76]On Wednesday, Reuters reported that experts at Citi, [04:18.48]an American financial company, [04:20.59]said bitcoin could lose half of its value again, [04:24.52]to about $5,000. [04:28.32]I'm Jonathan Evans. [04:30.36]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM