Bitcoin Drops 20% From All-Time High as Crypto Market Crashes

• Bitcoin has tumbled more than 20% from its record high of $69,000 which was attained earlier this month

• The world’s largest cryptocurrency lost 7.5%, falling to $54,430.35 on Friday morning

• The broader market witnessed liquidation following news about the emergence of a new COVID 19 strain in South Africa

Bitcoin has crashed about 20% from a record high of $69,000 earlier this month as a new variant of coronavirus triggered traders to dump their assets.

The world’s largest crypto token crashed 7.5% on Friday morning to trade around $54,430.

The second-largest cryptocurrency Ether lost over 9% in value and the global cryptocurrency market crashed by 7%, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Bitcoin has been under intense pressure since enthusiasm over the first U.S. exchange-traded fund spurred a rise to a new record high.

Since then the market has been hit with obstacles such as U.S. tax-reporting requirements for digital assets, clamp down from China, and more recently, the emergence of a new COVID 19 variant.

The prospect of a new virus strain has put a risk undercutting liquidity and could affect the views of cryptocurrency traders.

Despite this huge crash, bitcoin remains more than 85% above its value at the start of the year.

At the time of this report, the flagship cryptocurrency is trading at $54,700 and the cryptocurrency market cap is at $2.45 trillion.

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