Bitcoin,
the world's biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, slipped below $60,000 on
Tuesday, taking losses from a record high of $69,000 struck on Nov. 10 to more
than 12%.
Bitcoin
was down 5% at $60,391.3 at 1253 GMT, after earlier falling as much as $58,563,
its lowest since Oct. 28, while Ether, the second-biggest cryptocurrency by
market value, was down 6.8% at $4,253.08.
Cryptocurrency
analysts could not identify any particular news driving the falls, which they
said seemed to be driven by profit taking after a recent sharp run-up.
Bitcoin
has more than doubled in value since June, driven by the mainstream adoption of
cryptocurrencies and the launch in the United States of futures-based bitcoin
exchange traded funds.
And
on Sunday it went through a major upgrade, called Taproot, that enables its blockchain
to execute more complex transactions, potentially widening the virtual
currency's use cases and making it a little more competitive with ethereum for
processing smart contracts.
"The
fall below 60,000, puts (Bitcoin) below the 62,000 support level, slightly into
the 'short term' bearish zone," said Sylvia Jablonski, chief investment
officer at Defiance ETFs in New York.
"The
next key support level is 58,000, but I think it gets bought up here, and
demand driven prices will begin to play out to the upside."
Most
investors expect bitcoin to remain between $50,000 and $75,000 in the next 12
months, according to BofA Securities' monthly fund manager survey, while 59%
believe bitcoin is in a bubble.
Jehan
Chu, managing partner at Hong Kong blockchain venture capital firm Kenetic,
said it could potentially break "the $100k level before year's end".
Money
pouring into bitcoin products and funds have hit a record $9 billion so far
this year, and totalled $151 million last week in their 13th consecutive week
of inflows, data from digital asset manager CoinShares showed on Monday.
Although
flows have been positive recently, volumes have been subdued in the second
half, averaging $750 million daily versus $960 million in the first, the
CoinShares report said.
By Reuters
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