Bitcoin tanks 10% after Elon Musk says prices seem high

Bitcoin tanks 10% after Elon Musk says prices seem high

Bitcoin soared on Tuesday to an all-time high reaching the $50,000 milestone at $50.602.

Bitcoin slid Monday, pausing its stunning rally after Elon Musk said prices "seem high."

The world's most valuable cryptocurrency sank over 10% to a price of $51,993 Monday morning, according to data from Coin Metrics. At one point, bitcoin had dipped below the $50,000 level, falling as low as $47,700.

It wasn't immediately clear what was behind bitcoin's move lower Monday. On Saturday, Tesla's CEO said the prices of bitcoin and rival token ether seemed excessive. Bitcoin rallied to more than $58,000 on Sunday, but has since reversed course.

As of 10:25 a.m. ET, bitcoin was trading around 8% lower at a price of $53,375. It's worth pointing out that price swings of more than 10% aren't a rarity in crypto. Bitcoin once climbed to almost $20,000 in 2017 before shedding 80% of its value the following year.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on Monday warned bitcoin was a "highly speculative asset" and said she's worried about investors losing their money.

"It's an extremely inefficient way of conducting transactions, and the amount of energy that's consumed in processing those transactions is staggering," the former Federal Reserve chair said.

The digital coin is still