Bitcoin nosedived by almost 12 per cent in the past 24 hours to trade at around USD 54,916 early, the lowest intraday level in months.
The drop coincided with reports that the US Treasury was about to crack down on financial institutions for laundering money through digital coin trading.
The cryptocurrency's downtrend followed a week of rallying prices. It traded as high as USD 64,850 last week, ahead of the Nasdaq debut by the crypto exchange Coinbase.