Bitcoin plunged below $39,000 for the first time in more than three months on Wednesday after China said cryptocurrencies would not be allowed in transactions and warned investors against speculative trading in them, despite the country powering most of the world’s mining. The comments sent the unit diving more than 10 per cent and dealt it another blow soon after being battered by comments from tycoon Elon Musk and his Tesla car company. Trading in cryptocurrencies has been banned in China since 2019 to prevent money laundering as leaders try to stop people from shifting cash overseas. The country had been home to around 90 per cent of the global trade in the sector. And in a statement, three state-backed industry associations said “cryptocurrency prices have skyrocketed and plummeted, and cryptocurrency trading speculation activities have rebounded”. The price fluctuations “seriously violate people’s asset safety and disrupt normal economic and financial order,” said the statement, which was posted to social media by the People’s Bank of China. The notice warned consumers against wild speculation, adding that the “losses caused by investment transactions are borne by the...