Bitcoin Price Falls on Friday : Over $100 Billion Wiped off Cryptocurrency Market

THE SUDDEN plunge of bitcoin has continued as the cryptocurrency’s value dropped to just $8,369 (£5,870) after it plunged by more than 17% in 24 hours.

The online currency has so far seen a turbulent 2018, with its value continuing to all after it reached an all time high of nearly $20,000 (£14,000) in December last year.

The total market capitalization or value of all cryptocurrencies in circulation stood at $405,241,490,138 at 6:30 a.m. London time (1:30 a.m. ET), according to data from Coinmarketcap.com, which takes into account the prices of digital coins across a number of key exchanges. This was a fall of $112.6 billion of value from a day before.

Cryptocurrencies have seen a major sell-off. Bitcoin fell below $9,000 on Thursday, according to CoinDesk's bitcoin price index, which tracks prices from four major cryptocurrency exchanges.

Other major coins including ethereum and ripple were down 22 percent and 32 percent respectively compared to a day ago at 6.30 a.m. London time Friday.

The cryptocurrency world has been plagued by a spate of negative news.

India's Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the country wants to "eliminate" the use of digital currencies in criminal activities, signaling tighter regulation in the country.