Bitcoin tumbles below $27,000 for first time since December 2020 as crypto sell-off intensifies

Bitcoin tumbles below $27,000 for first time since December 2020 as crypto sell-off intensifies

Slumped below $27,000 Thursday for the first time in over 16 months, as cryptocurrency markets extended their losses amid fears over rising inflation and the collapse of a controversial stablecoin project. The price of bitcoin plunged as low as $26,595.52 Thursday morning, according to Bitstamp data. That marks the first time bitcoin has sunk below the $27,000 level since Dec. 30, 2020. As of 1:30 a.m. ET, bitcoin was trading at $27,061, down 15% in the last 24 hours. , the second-biggest digital currency, tanked to as low as $1,789 per coin. It's the first time the token has fallen beneath the $2,000 mark since July 2021. Ether was last down 23% at a price of $1,852. Investors are fleeing from cryptocurrencies at a time when stock markets have plunged from the highs of the coronavirus pandemic on fears over soaring prices and a deteriorating economic outlook. U.S. inflation data out Wednesday showed prices for goods and services jumping 8.3% in April, higher than expected by analysts and close to the highest level in 40 years. Also weighing on traders' minds is the downfall of embattled stablecoin protocol Terra. , or UST, is supposed to mirror the value of the