Bitcoin drops by more than 10%, hits below $50,000

By Reuters News

INTERNATIONAL – Bitcoin dropped below $50,000 (R732335.00) on Tuesday, as investors began to get a little nervous about the digital currency’s lofty valuation and some leveraged players took profit.

The cryptocurrency dropped more than 10 percent, its largest daily drop in a month, to hit $48,575. That extends a sharp withdrawal of more than 16 percent from a record high hit onSunday, although bitcoin remains up around 75 percent for the year.

The drop came despite broad US dollar weakness.

“The market’s rallied almost unimpeded since the beginning of the month and to some degree since the beginning of the year,” said James Quinn, managing director at digital asset platform Q9 Capital in Hong Kong.