Bitcoin's supply is limited to 21 million - a number that is expected to be reached around the year 2140
It clawed back some ground and stood at $16,100 in later trading
Investment mogul Jack Bogle says there is nothing to support Bitcoin
The total value of all bitcoins released into the system so far has now reached as high as $283 billion.
Ban on trading is impossible to enforce
The cryptocurrency shows wild swings since Wednesday - within hours of crossing the $11,000-mark, plunges nearly 20% to $9,009 in less than 90 minutes, and then rises again to trade above $10,000
The cryptocurrency has climbed 10-fold so far this year
Cryptocurrencies holders have a claim on a private, rather than a public entity, which could go bust or stop functioning
New high came after leading US payments company Square Inc said late last week that it had started allowing select customers to buy and sell bitcoins on its Cash app
Bitcoin has split investors over the viability of the volatile cryptocurrency
Square says its customers have shown an appetite for the 'alt-currency'
The plea, filed through advocate P N Razdan, also sought responses from the Income Tax department and the Enforcement Directorate
Economists have long had a notion that psychological factors affect investor decisions
The cryptocurrency has dropped 5.6% since late Friday, and at one point extended its slide from last week's record to as much as 29%
Zimbabweans turning to Bitcoin as local dollars collapse; Harare Bitcoin price almost twice as much as elsewhere in the world; cryptocurrencies used for overseas payments
According to market experts, banning cryptocurrency dealers or exchanges would not work
CME Group Inc said it would provide a regulated trading venue for the cryptocurrency market
Spike in value of digital currencies gives cybercriminals a new way to earn money that is less disruptive than ransomware
The long history of currency tells us that what the private sector innovates, the state eventually regulates and appropriates
Bitcoin's total value, or market capitalisation, is close to $100 billion, bigger than US investment bank Morgan Stanley