A bitcoin sell-off that began at the beginning of the week is gaining momentum, with a fifth of its value evaporating in just the past 24 hours.
The digital currency slumped 19% to $12,668 as of around noon today, according to the tracking site CoinDesk.
The price of bitcoin has skyrocketed in recent weeks, and today’s drop brings it back only to where it traded on Dec. 5.
The price soared from under $10,000 at the end of November to just under $20,000 on Sunday. It cost less than $1,000 at the beginning of the year.
The extraordinarily rapid rise in the price of bitcoin, which still isn’t widely used to buy things, has led many financial experts to call it a speculative bubble that’s waiting to burst.
Steep downturns do happen regularly, though today’s was its biggest one-day drop this year. It fell 11.5% over two days in early December and 21.5% over five days in November. That volatility has dampened its appeal as a currency.
