Bitcoin tumbles below £13,500 as FTX turmoil continues
Bitcoin has plunged below £13,500 today as investors flee to steadier ground amid turmoil sparked by the collapse of crypto exchange FTX.
The most valuable crypto currency was trading at around £13,556 at 16:45 today after falling to as low as £13,456 early this morning.
Bitcoin is down nearly 25 per cent since revelations began to emerge over the state of the balance sheet at Alameda Research – FTX’s sister firm – and has tumbled nearly 75 per cent from its all-time peak in November last year.
It comes as the industry is rocked by the fallout of bankruptcy at Sam Bankman-Fried’s crypto exchange, previously been regarded as one of the most stable firms in the sector, which has sparked fears of contagion across the sector.
Crypto boker Genesis has been among the most high-profile firms caught up in the crisis as it froze withdrawals at the end of last week, warning it had been hit by “abnormal withdrawal requests which have exceeded our current liquidity”.
Other cryptocurrencies have similarly been hit by sell-offs, with Ethereum falling over seven per cent since yesterday morning to trade at around $1,117 (£948).
The drop off followed reports that a hacker who drained FTX wallets this month had swapped around $5,929,000 worth of the currency for bitcoin.