Bitcoin falls from peak, U.S. ETF support questioned

Bitcoin falls from peak, U.S. ETF support questioned

NEW YORK/LONDON - Bitcoin on Thursday retreated from its all-time high struck a day earlier after the debut of the first U.S. bitcoin futures exchange-traded fund, while analysts questioned the impact on cryptocurrency investment flows. The world's largest cryptocurrency was down 4.35% at $63,122.78, at 2:10 p.m. Eastern time, after hitting a record $67,016 on Wednesday. Earlier, just after 7:30 a.m., Bitcoin's price briefly plunged around 87% to $8,200, but only on Binance's U.S. exchange. The flashcrash seemed to have been caused by a bug in an institutional trader's algorithm, a spokesperson for Binance U.S. said. "We are continuing to look into the event, but understand from the trader that they have now fixed their bug and that the issue appears to have been resolved," the spokesperson said. Bitcoin's recent rally - six-months after its previous top of $64,895 - was fueled by the debut of the ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF. A dozen other futures-based bitcoin ETFs could launch in the coming months, with The Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF set to begin trading on Friday under the ticker BTF. The VanEck Bitcoin Strategy ETF expected to begin trading next week under the ticker XBTF. Investors have bet the long-awaited launch