Crypto market value drops $280bn in one day as bitcoin sell-off continues

Around $279.65bn was wiped off the entire value of the cryptocurrency market in the last 24 hours as of 0118 BST as bitcoin continues a sell off that started on 12 May.

Bitcoin fell more than 13% to hit an intraday low of $38,585.86 according to CoinDesk data. This is the lowest level since 9 February, the last time that it dropped below $40,000.

Bitcoin is off by about 39% from its all-time high of $64,829.14 hit in mid-April.

The initial trigger for the fall was Tesla’s decision on 12 May to suspend vehicle purchases using bitcoin over environmental concerns regarding crypto mining.

Tesla boss, Elon Musk, had to clarify earlier this week that despite the company’s announcement, it had not sold any of the $1.5bn worth of bitcoin it held.

In parallel, on 18 May, three Chinese banking and payment industry bodies issued a statement warning financial institutions not to get involved in business with cryptos.

Nonetheless, Bitcoin was still up by over 40% year-to-date and had run up by 320% in value in the last 12 months.