Bitcoin Drops 4% as Turkey Bans Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin fell early on Friday, after Turkey's central bank (CBRT) decided to ban the use of cryptocurrencies for payments starting the end of April.

CBRT cited a number of reasons for the ban, including a lack of supervision mechanisms and central authority regulation of cryptocurrencies.

"Market values can be excessively volatile," the central bank said, adding that digital wallets can be stolen or used illegally and transactions are irreversible.

The bitcoin slipped 4% to $60,902, after hitting an all-time high above $64,000 earlier this week. However, the cryptocurrency bounced back to $61,744.37 by the end of trading.

Ether, the second most prominent cryptocurrency, also fell by 3.9%.

According to the new regulation, “Payment service providers cannot develop business models in a way in which crypto assets are used directly or indirectly in providing payment services and issuing electronic funds, and cannot provide any services related to these business models.”

CBRT said it made the decision amid the increased use of crypto assets to make payments.