Bitcoin price slump sees drop in sales of manufacturing tools

Price of cryptocurrency drops by more than a quarter in two days to $195

The price of Bitcoin has slumped by more than a quarter in two days this week, as sales of Bitcoin manufacturing tools have "ground to a halt".

On Wednesday the price of Bitcoin fell to $195 (£128) per coin, after it dropped by 27 per cent from $267 on Tuesday. The price then rebounded slightly and it has been trading at around $210 today, according to the CoinDesk price index.

But the current price of the cryptocurrency represents a dramatic drop in value, as it was previously trading at $1,150 in November 2013.

As the price slumps, Manchester-based electronics retailer Aria Technology has seen its sales of Bitcoin manufacturing equipment "almost grind to a halt", according to chief executive Aria Taheri.

Taheri said: "We are not selling anywhere near as much [Bitcoin manufacturing tools] as we were last year. I don't think we have sold a mining rig over the last month or so and we have sold none of them in January so far."

Taheri previously noted his sales doubling last February thanks to the sale of Bitcoin manufacturing products, such as graphics cards and frames dedicated to building Bitcoin mining rigs which are used to "mine" the currency.

But Taheri said people were still using Bitcoin for transactions and he felt the cryptocurrency still has a future.

"Obviously there are speculators out there, who have a significant influence over the short-term price, but the current fall is just a blip on this journey of Bitcoin and there is no doubt in the future of the currency."

News of the slump in price comes after the UK-based Bitcoin exchange Bitstamp was suspended following a hack of $5.22m worth of Bitcoins on 4 January, adding to the uncertainty of the currency.