Broken representation of the Bitcoin virtual currency, placed on a monitor that displays stock graph and binary codes, are seen in this illustration picture, December 21, 2017. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

TOKYO (Reuters) - Bitcoin skidded on Thursday, after South Korea’s justice minister said a bill to ban cryptocurrency trade was being prepared.

Bitcoin was down more than 10 percent on the Bitstamp exchange at $13,350 on the newss, after earlier dropping as low as $13,120, its weakest since Jan. 2.