Bitcoin hits lowest level since October 2017 amid digital-coin rout

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The selloff in the virtual-asset market extended into Thursday, with the No.1 digital currency on track for its fourth consecutive loss and a fresh yearly low.

A single bitcoin














BTCUSD, -6.15%












 was last changing hands at $5,482.69, down 2.6% since Wednesday at 5 p.m. Eastern Time on the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange. Earlier in the session, bitcoin hit $5,408.08, its lowest level in more than a year.

Over the past 24 hours the total value of all cryptocurrencies has lost more than $30 billion to a one-year low of $181 billion, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

As investors take stock from yesterday’s crash, a number of pundits are putting blame on the pending Bitcoin Cash hard fork for the broad-based selloff. “Price volatility is not unusual in the crypto landscape—however, [Wednesday’s] dip is significant enough to prompt industry players to stop and take stock of the reasons why,” wrote Donald Bullers, North American representative for Elastos, a blockchain-based data security service.

“It’s safe to say that Bitcoin Cash’s upcoming hard fork was stirring uncertainty amongst crypto investors, and forecasters across crypto and traditional markets alike have predicted a prolonged bear market heading into 2019.”

Echoing these sentiments was Brian Kelly, founder of BKCM Funds, who told CNBC late Wednesday the disagreement around the pending hard fork was akin to a crypto civil war.

Read: What you need to know about the Bitcoin Cash ‘hard fork’

What are altcoins and futures doing?

The group of 2,000 or so coins other than bitcoin, known as altcoins, are mostly lower again Thursday. Ether,














ETHUSD, -5.48%












was off 1.7% at $173.00, Litecoin














LTCUSD, -5.16%












had lost 1.2% at $41.53, XRP,














XRPUSD, -6.39%












was down 0.9% at 44 cents and Bitcoin Cash














BCHUSD, -11.48%












 was the only major altcoin in the green, trading up 0.2% at $425.20.

In futures trading, the Cboe Global Markets December contract














XBTZ8, -3.68%












 is now the most active, and was trading at $5,370, down 1.1% while the CME Group November contract














BTCX8, -2.05%












was unchanged at $5,365.

Read: Bitcoin futures tumble 13%, trigger trading limit

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Source : MTV