The price of bitcoin has crashed on Wednesday morning, dropping by thousands of dollars in the space of just a few minutes.
The cryptocurrency fell below $59,000 following the flash crash, down more than $5,000 from the levels it was trading at earlier this week.
The latest price drop comes less than a week after BTC hit a new all-time high of close to $67,000, with some crypto analysts predicting a record-breaking rally to close out 2021.
Blockchain data suggests today’s price crash is partly fuelled by long-term holders taking some profits, which typically happens after bitcoin hits a new all-time high.
Several other leading cryptocurrencies also tumbled in price, with Ethereum (ether), Binance Coin, Cardano (ada), Solana (SOL) and Ripple (XRP) all falling by between 5-15 per cent.
The overall crypto market fell below $2.5 trillion – more than $200 billion down from earlier this week.
More to follow.
