This week's slump brought the total market value of cryptocurrencies down to around $400 billion US, half the high it reached in January, according to industry tracker Coinmarketcap.com. Bitcoin, the biggest and best-known cryptocurrency, fell as much as 15 per cent on Friday to a two-month low of $7,625 US on the Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange. The virtual currency is down by close to 25 per cent this week and almost 40 per cent in 2018. A massive $530 million hack of a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange last week renewed worries about the security of the industry. Going back to 2011 and including the current selloff, bitcoin's price has been halved nine times on the Bitstamp exchange before recovering.

Source: CBC News February 02, 2018 13:46 UTC