Downward Spiral: Bitcoin Falls Below $6,300

By Francesca Washtell

The notoriously volatile cryptocurrency bitcoin has fallen to its lowest price this month after rallying in the first week of November and then crashing by more than $1,000 on Thursday and Friday.

The price of a single bitcoin is down 4.53 per cent at $6,272.24, according to Coindesk’s aggregate index, a level it hasn’t reached since the end of October.

Bitcoin surged to an all-time high of almost $7,900 on Wednesday, before dropping by more than $1,000 in 48 hours.

The surge was prompted by the suspension of a software upgrade that could have split bitcoin into what’s called a “fork”.

The most recent slump came as some traders dumped it for a clone called bitcoin cash, which has seen its value soar in the last few days: it’s price is now up by 54 per cent to $1,247.

Source: Coindesk

Read more: Debate: Is bitcoin a better investment than gold?

Bitcoin started the year under the $1,000 mark, meaning at peak it has increased around sevenfold in the year to date, and its market cap is now more than $1bn (£758m).

Cryptocurrencies have received a mixed reaction from the global financial sector, with JP Morgan Chase boss slamming them as a “fraud” in September, though CME Group gave prices a boost after announcing plans to launch bitcoin futures by the end of this year.

Yesterday bitcoin classic, one of several forks in the main bitcoin currency, said that the project would end because it had been superseded by bitcoin cash.

Classic was one of many projects aiming to increase the block size of bitcoin, with a proposed target of 2MB rather than 1MB. A hard fork in the cryptocurrency created bitcoin cash earlier this year, which allows for adjustable block sizes and a default of 8MB.

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