cryptocurrency exchange hack

Bitcoin eased further on Wednesday following its initial drop after the weekend announcement that South Korean cryptocurrency exchange had been hacked.

Other major cryptocurrencies also weakened markedly.

Bitcoin traded as low as $6,455.91 early on Wednesday Asia time, its lowest level since April. Bitcoin pared some of those losses to trade around $6,581.88 by 3:15 p.m. HK/SIN, according to CoinDesk.

Bitcoin had fallen around 10 percent over the weekend following news that South Korean exchange Coinrail had been hacked, with a number of lesser-known cryptocurrencies such as Pundi X counting among those affected. Bitcoin, however, was not mentioned by the exchange in its statements, according to Google translate.

The continued downward move was unlikely a result of last week's hack, which saw a limited level of damage caused, said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro.

"The narrative that such a small hack caused such a large price reaction has definitely been overplayed," he said, adding that bitcoin's drop on Sunday was caused by a technical correction.

Over the last 24 hours, Bitcoin has seen a dip of around 4 percent, according to CoinMarketCap. So far in 2018, the cryptocurrency is down more than 50 percent.

Chart analysts have indicated that bitcoin's move below the $7,000 mark suggested a speedy recovery was unlikely.

As for other crypto assets, the last day has proven challenging.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, was down almost 7 percent in the last 24 hours, CoinMarketCap data showed. Ethereum stood at $496.47 at 3:15 p.m. HK/SIN, according to CoinDesk.

Ripple was lower by nearly 6 percent in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap. It traded at 56 cents at 3:15 p.m. HK/SIN.