Business

Bitcoin suffers dramatic drop in value

Published

8 years ago

May 16, 2018

Bitcoin has seen a dramatic drop in value over the past day, falling from a high of $8824.17 (£6537.83) per bitcoin on Tuesday to a low of $8292.10 (£61460.86) shortly after midnight on Wednesday, representing a 6 per cent decrease.

The value of the cryptocurrency was fluctuating around $8700 (£6445.83) until 3pm yesterday, before going into free fall.

Wednesday’s opening value was $8474.24 (£6278.56), before reaching a high of $8492.31 (£6291.95), and a falling to a low of $8328.38 (£6170.50) before the drop continued into the early hours of Wednesday.

Bitcoin hit its highest value before Christmas when the token reached the monumental price of just under $20,000.

However the value of the cryptocurrency plummeted rapidly by more than $44bn (£30.9bn) in January, falling by more than 10 per cent to below $9000.

Economists warned of a bitcoin bubble after the value of the cryptocurrency soared by over 900 per cent last year.

The digital currency has faced criticism by banks and finance experts, with billionaire Bill Gates telling CNBC he would bet against the cryptocurrency if he could.

Mr. Gates said: “As an asset class, you’re not producing anything and so you shouldn’t expect it to go up.

“It’s kind of a pure ‘greater fool theory’ type of investment. I agree I would short it if there was an easy way to do it.”