- Bitcoin slipped 10.8% in the 24 hours to Sunday morning.
- It was the biggest single-day drop since February, Bloomberg reported.
- Reports attributed the drop to speculation the US Treasury may scrutinize digital currencies closer.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Bitcoin tumbled to its biggest single-day drop since February over Saturday, just days after reaching a record high, Bloomberg reported.
Bitcoin fell 10.8% in the 24 hours to Saturday 7am ET, from $61,396 to $54,750. At one point, it reached a low of $51,300 after it dropped more than $7,000 in a single hour, before partially recovering.
Several online outlets attributed the drop to speculation the US Treasury may take action against money laundering conducted through digital assets, per Bloomberg and Coinbase.
Bitcoin hit a record high of $64,869.78 on Wednesday ahead of the stock-market debut for the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase Global Inc. on the Nasdaq.
Bitcoin has faced more regulatory scrutiny in recent months. Turkey’s central bank said on Friday that it would cease the use of cryptocurrencies as a valid form of payment from April 30. The move caused Bitcoin to slip as much as 5%.
The bank said the anonymity of digital brings the risk of “non-recoverable” losses.
In March, Insider reported that India was likely to ban bitcoin and fine anyone who buys, holds, or sells any form of digital currency.
While concerns linger over the risks associated with bitcoin, some companies are embracing the cryptocurrency: Paypal and Xbox, for example, are beginning to accept bitcoin as payment, and Wall Street firms such as Morgan Stanley are considering stakes in the digital token so they can give their wealthiest clients access to the crypto market.
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