Bitcoin recovers from sudden sell-off

Bitcoin rallied as much as 20 per cent from its Wednesday low, easing concern that an abrupt sell-off in the cryptocurrency might spiral into something deeper.

The digital currency climbed as high as US$10,787.99 in Asian trading hours yesterday, after touching a nadir of US$9,009.15, according to prices compiled by Bloomberg.

A 21 per cent slump on Wednesday, triggered in part by intermittent outages at cryptocurrency exchanges, came just hours after bitcoin had soared to a record.

Price swings in the world's most popular digital currency are increasing as an 11-fold gain this year captivates everyone from mom-and-pop investors to high-frequency traders and Wall Street banks.

While the frenzy has prompted bubble warnings from observers including Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz, interest among traders shows few signs of abating.

Coinbase, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges, tweeted on Wednesday that traffic on its platform reached an all-time high, even as some users reported service interruptions and delays.

BLOOMBERG

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on December 01, 2017, with the headline Bitcoin recovers from sudden sell-off. Subscribe