Tokyo/London - Bitcoin plunged more than 11% on Wednesday, extending a precipitous downturn in fortunes, with investors spooked by fears regulators might clamp down on an asset the value of which skyrocketed in the past year. The price of the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency fell to as low as $10,065 on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange, a six-week low and close to half the peak price of almost $20,000 it reached in December. Other cryptocurrencies plunged as well. Ethereum and Ripple were both down heavily after reports South Korea and China could ban cryptocurrency trading, sparking worries of a wider regulatory crackdown. "There is a lot of panic in the market. People are selling to try and get the hell out of there," said Charles Hayter, founder of Cryptocompare, which owns cryptocurrencies. "You have more regulatory uncertainty … and because of these falls, you have these other outfalls," he said, referring to the collapse of some cryptocurrencies in the recen...
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