Bitcoin extends its slide, tumbling below $50,000
Summary
Bitcoins price descended further on Tuesday after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen issued a warning about the cryptocurrency. On Monday, Yellen called bitcoin an "extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions" and warned about its use in illicit activity. The tokens wild surge has reminded some critics of the sheer level of electricity required to produce new coins. So-called miners run high-power machines which compete to solve complex math puzzles in order to make a transaction go through. "It is a highly speculative asset and you know I think people should be aware it can be extremely volatile and I do worry about potential losses that investors can suffer," the former Federal Reserve chair told CNBCs Andrew Ross Sorkin at a New York Times DealBook conference.