Bitcoin slumped below $27,000 Thursday for the first time in over 16 months, as cryptocurrency markets extended their losses amid fears over rising inflation and the collapse of a controversial stablecoin project.
The price of bitcoin plunged as low as $26,595.52 Thursday morning, according to Bitstamp data. That marks the first time bitcoin has sunk below the $27,000 level since Dec. 30, 2020.
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As of 1:30 a.m. ET, bitcoin was trading at $27,061, down 15 percent in the last 24 hours.
Ether, the second-biggest digital currency, tanked to as low as $1,789 per coin. It’s the first time the token has fallen beneath the $2,000 mark since July 2021.
Ether was last down 23 percent at a price of $1,852.
Investors are fleeing from cryptocurrencies at a time when stock markets have plunged from the highs of the coronavirus pandemic on fears over soaring prices and a deteriorating economic outlook.
