Bitcoin dropped below $6,000 and dozens of smaller digital tokens tumbled as this month’s sell-off in cryptocurrencies showed few signs of letting up.
The largest digital currency fell as much as 6.2 per cent to $5,887 as of 10:44am in Hong Kong, the lowest level since June, according to Bloomberg composite pricing. Ether sank 12 per cent, while all but one of the 100 biggest cryptocurrencies tracked by Coinmarketcap.com recorded declines over the past 24 hours. The total market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies dropped to $190 billion, from a peak of around $835bn in January.
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While Bitcoin and its peers rallied in July on hopes that a Bitcoin-backed exchange-traded fund would attract new investors to the world of virtual currencies, US regulators have yet to sign off on multiple proposals for such a product.
The let-down has coincided with growing concern that entrepreneurs who raised crypto-denominated funds via initial coin offerings are now cashing out of coins such as Ether.
Bitcoin has now dropped about 23 per cent in August, extending its retreat this year to 58 per cent.