Bitcoin plunges on PBOC ban

The price of Bitcoins slumped on Friday, reacting to the move by the People's Bank of China to ban financial institutions from using the currency.

The price of the virtual currency dropped to 6,148.89 yuan ($1,010.62) on Friday at 5 pm from Thursday's high of 7,005.01 yuan on BTC China, the country's largest Bitcoin online trading platform by trading volume.

The PBOC said Thursday that Bitcoins have no "real meaning". Market players said the central bank's warning probably dented investors' confidence, and some holders of the currency sold their Bitcoins immediately after the PBOC warning.