Bitcoin is sliding

Early selling pushed bitcoin down nearly 5% to a low of $752.46 per coin. The cryptocurrency has recovered a portion of its losses and is lower by more than 2% at $772 per coin as of 7:48 a.m. ET. Thursday's weakness has the cryptocurrency trading at its lowest level in about a month.

Bitcoin has had a wild start to 2017. It rallied more than 20% in the first four trading days of 2017, putting in a high of $1161.88 per coin amid massive interest from China. However, speculation began to mount last Friday that China was going to crackdown on the cryptocurrency after the People's Bank of China warned investors to exercise caution when investing in virtual currencies. Then on Wednesday

Then on Wednesday, China announced it had begun investigating bitcoin exchanges in Beijing and Shanghai on suspicion of market manipulation, money laundering, unauthorized financing, and other issues. Selling in response to that announcement pushed bitcoin down more than 13%.

Investing.com