Cryptocurrency scams and South Korean disclosure rules drive down price of Bitcoin

This has not been a great week for fans of cryptocurrencies. And it's only Tuesday, so who knows what's to come over the next six days?

Early this morning, the U.K.-based Express newspaper reported that a fruit and vegetable cryptocurrency ripped off investors by shutting down its website and social media accounts.

When people logged onto the Prodeum website, they saw only one word: "penis".

That's not the only negative news for investors.

Bitcoin prices also tumbled after Japanese regulators launched a crackdown following last week's hacking of Coincheck.

Dubbed by ABC News as the "world's biggest cryptocurrency theft", crooks stole about $645 million on Friday.

In the wake of this, Coincheck halted sales and withdrawals and later promised to return 90 percent of the money. However, details about how this will occur remain unknown, according to Reuters.

According to Coincheck, the theft occurred because the funds were stored in a "hot wallet" rather than a "cold wallet" that's not linked to the Internet.

As of this writing, one Bitcoin is now valued at $12,641.87 in Canadian currency. That's down almost 50 percent from the $25,000 price it reached on December 15.

Meanwhile, South Korea has introduced new rules today banning the trade of any digital currencies anonymously, including Bitcoin.

That's had a negative impact on the prices of Ethereum, Ripple, and Litecoin, as well as Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash.

Earlier this month, one of the world's savviest investors, U.S. billionaire Warren Buffett, offered a dim view of the future of cryptocurrencies.

"I can say almost with certainty that they will come to a bad ending," Buffett declared on CNBC.