The price of bitcoin has plunged once again in the latest shock to the cryptocurrency market.
Bitcoin has fallen almost 9 per cent in the last 24 hours. The market as a whole is down 8.6 per cent.
It takes the price of bitcoin down to around $78,000. It is just over a month since it hit $109,241, its all-time high, on 20 January, the day of Donald Trump’s inauguration.
It comes after a run of market shocks over the last week that together mean bitcoin is now down 20 per cent in the last seven days.
Some large cryptocurrencies are even more effected. Ethereum – still the second biggest cryptocurrency – is down almost 25 per cent in the last week.
Ethereum was at the centre of the hack on Bybit, a crypto exchange, last week. In that attack, which has been branded the biggest heist in digital history, hackers stole almost $1.5 billion in the digital currency.
The falls in crypto came as US markets traded down on Thursday amid fears over tech stocks and the threat of tariffs being imposed by Donald Trump. The Nasdaq had fallen 2.8 per cent on Thursday, for instance, its biggest single-day drop in a month.
"We're almost in a situation where there is so much news that it's leaving traders paralysed, because they don't know what to focus on, and particularly with Trump, what is a negotiating gambit and what is a serious policy proposal," said Michael Brown, senior research strategist at Pepperstone.
"Given the degree of uncertainty, it does make sense to lighten up on positioning, particularly in riskier assets."
