TOPLINE
Bitcoin tumbled 16% overnight Saturday amid a wider plunge of cryptocurrencies as investors pared riskier bets with financial markets unsettled by the spread of the omicron coronavirus variant.
KEY FACTS
Bitcoin, the No. 1 cryptocurrency by market value, was trading at $47,558.47 as of 9:30 a.m. Saturday, down 16% from a day earlier, according to CoinGecko.
It had fallen as much as 20% before recovering some of its losses.
As of Saturday morning, Ether, the second-largest digital token, was off 13.1%; Binance Coin, the third-largest token, was down 11%; Solana, the fifth-largest token, had given up 17.2%, according to CoinGecko.
Meme coin Dogecoin shed nearly a fifth of its market value and Shiba Inu coin declined 14.9%.
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KEY BACKGROUND
The drop in cryptocurrencies came after a volatile week in financial markets. The omicron variant has led countries around the world to restrict travel amid worries that vaccines may not be as effective against the strain. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated earlier this week the central bank could accelerate the tapering of its pandemic bond-buying program, with inflation looking more persistent than policy makers had believed.
FURTHER READING
Bitcoin Price Tumbles After Wall Street Selloff (Wall Street Journal)
Bitcoin Plunges Over 20% in Another Sign of Global Market Nerves (Bloomberg)
By Lisa Kim, Forbes Staff
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