Digital currency ethereum plunged 30 percent Tuesday, to below $1,000, amid a massive sell-off in major digital currencies.

Ethereum traded on Coinbase near $901, or 31 percent lower over the last 24 hours as of 5:06 p.m. ET. Coinbase is the leading U.S. marketplace for trading bitcoin, ethereum, litecoin and bitcoin cash.

The declines followed comments from South Korean authorities that indicated tougher regulation on digital currency trading. However, there was no apparent driver behind the late-afternoon decline.

Ethereum 24-hour performance

Source: Coinbase

Bitcoin briefly tumbled more than 25 percent to a low of $10,242 on Coinbase. The digital currency was trading near $10,850 late Tuesday afternoon.

Bitcoin has now nearly halved in price after topping $19,800 in mid-December. But the digital currency remains more than 1,100 percent higher over the last 12 months, according to Coinbase.

Ripple, the third-largest digital currency by market capitalization, plunged 35 percent to $1.09, according to CoinMarketCap. Last week, the site began excluding prices from some South Korean exchanges, where ripple trades about 20 cents higher.