Bitcoin Price Tumbles After Wall Street Selloff

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Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, without a central bank or single Offline bitcoin wallet , that can be sent from user to user on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network without the need for intermediaries.

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies fell sharply Saturday, another sign that investors were pulling back from riskier bets after this week's stock-market selloff.

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at $48,125.67 around 12:30 p.m. Eastern Time on Saturday, down more than 12% in 24 hours, according to data from CoinDesk. Around midnight it had plunged to $42,000 before bouncing back. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, was down more than 7% on Saturday afternoon.

Bitcoin was 12 per cent down at 0920 GMT at $47,495. It fell as low as $41,967.5 during the session, taking total losses for the day to 22pc.

The broad selloff in cryptocurrencies also saw Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain network, plunge more than 10pc.

Based on cryptocurrency data platform Coingecko, the market capitalisation of the 11,392 coins it tracks dropped nearly 15pc to $2.34 trillion. That value had briefly crossed $3tn last month when Bitcoin hit a record $69,000.

The plunge follows a volatile week for financial markets. Global equities and benchmark US bond yields tumbled on Friday after data showed US job growth slowed in November and the Omicron variant of the coronavirus kept investors on edge.

Justin d'Anethan, Hong Kong-based head of exchange sales at cryptocurrency exchange EQONEX, said he had been watching the increase in leverage ratios across the cryptocurrency markets as well as how large holders had been moving their coins from wallets to exchanges. The latter is usually a sign of intent to sell.

"Whales in the crypto space seem to have transferred coins to trading venue, taken advantage of a bullish bias and leverage from retail traders, to then push prices down," he said.