Bitcoin’s value has plummeted over the past two days. As a result, losses from the digital currency reached more than 10% in 48 hours and wiped out an estimated US $ 100 billion on the crypto market.
The price of bitcoin slumped more than 6% Thursday to US $ 31,310, falling below the US $ 32,000 level for the first time since January 11, according to data from industry website CoinDesk.
The world’s most valuable digital coin reached US $ 41,940 earlier this month before dropping sharply the following week. One digital asset manager said it might be a natural correction.
“Corrections are a natural part of any market and they are very natural in the bitcoin ecosystem,” Michael Sonnenshein, CEO of Grayscale Investments told CNBC.
“From 2016-2017, we experienced 6 corrections of around 30% or more towards new highs,” he continued.
Ether, the second largest crypto token by market value, is also down about 10% from the previous two days ago. The coin hit an all-time high of US $ 1,439 on Tuesday according to Coin Metrics data.
The decline in market value of all cryptocurrencies wiped out US $ 100 billion in the last 48 hours. It is down from around US $ 1.06 trillion to around US $ 945 billion.
The latest Bitcoin price move came after the new US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen warned about the cryptocurrency as primarily for illegal financing.
The former Federal Reserve chairman said the government needed to examine ways that could be taken to limit its use and ensure that money laundering did not occur through these channels.
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