BITCOIN BERATING

Bitcoin falls to four-month low in persistent bearish trend. Bitcoin dropped to a more than four-month low on Friday, continuing a  downtrend after-

More negative headlines such as Japan's financial regulator ordering  six digital currency  exchanges to make improvements on their anti-money laundering systems.

The original virtual currency fell as low as  $6, 085.59 {Pound 4, 589}  BTC = BTSP  on Bitstamp, the lowest since early February and not far from this year's trough of just below $6,000.

It was last down more than 8 percent at  $6, 177.45

So far in 2018, bitcoin has fallen nearly  56 percent , after soaring more than  1,300  percent last year.

The order from Japan's Financial Services Agency on Friday includes bitFlyer, Inc., one of the country's largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

Early this week, the cryptocurrency world was racked by news that  South Korean cryptocurrency exchange  Bithumb was hacked of  35 billion Won {$31.5 million} worth of virtual coins.

The Bithumb attack was preceded this month by  a   ''cyber intrusion''  at Coinrail, a relatively small cryptocurrency exchange in South Korea., causing a loss of about 30 percent of the coins traded on the exchange.

''Often swings in prices are blamed on events like hacks crypto exchanges, or news from regulators,'' said Chris Tse,  founding director of the  Cardstack project  in New York, which is leading efforts to create a blockchain-based  Internet.

The Honor and Serving of the latest Global Operational Research on Bitcoin continues to Part 2.