What goes up… Bitcoin (BTC) loses steam after topping $11,000 and drops back under $10,000
What goes up, must come down.
And while bitcoin’s been building up a heady streak, the cryptocurrency crashed back below $10,000 this evening, dropping as much as 20 per cent, after notching past $11,000 earlier in the day.
At the time of writing it was trading at $9,848 according to Coin Desk, down from an earlier high of $11,377.
Some of the largest online exchanges said they were attempting to resolve service troubles.
Read more: Now bitcoin’s smashed the $11,000 mark
Digital exchange Coinbase said it had been experiencing “all-time high traffic” and there was some slower performance, with its engineering team working on it.
Vast majority of traffic is being served but with slower performance. Our engineering team is actively working on this and should be fully resolved in a few hours— Coinbase (@coinbase) November 29, 2017
Meanwhile, Coinbase’s global digital asset exchange (GDAX) said on Twitter it was investigating performance issues.
[status] Investigating: We are currently investigating performance issues and downtime on the web app and REST API. https://t.co/mYm3oC5j3O— GDAX (@GDAX) November 29, 2017
Bitcoin has been collecting headlines of late, as its recent rise continued to push higher, though it is notoriously volatile.
Critics have labelled it a bubble, while many investors are still hesitant about investing. JP Morgan Chase’s boss meanwhile, memorably called cryptocurrencies a “fraud” in September.
Earlier this month, a survey by market research firm D-CYFOR found that although 80 per cent of the general public in the UK have heard of bitcoin, 58 per cent said they would not invest in it, while 30 per cent predict it will collapse and be worthless within the next six months.
Views on the cryptocurrency vary dramatically – 54 per cent said they were optimistic about an increase in value over the next six months, though 15 per cent said they were thinking of investing in it.
Last month, CME Group announced plans to launch bitcoin futures by the end of the year after “increasing client interest in the evolving cryptocurrency markets”.
Read more: This massive private equity investor reckons the bitcoin bubble will burst