Bitcoin slips sharply as rally stalls

BITCOIN fell sharply yesterday after surging to a record US$58,354 a day earlier, as a selloff in global equities curbed risk appetite.

The most popular cryptocurrency rallied over the weekend to record levels, almost doubling year-to-date. It hit a market capitalization of US$1 trillion on Friday.

Bitcoin’s gains have been fueled by signs it is gaining acceptance among mainstream investors and companies, from Tesla Inc and Mastercard Inc to BNY Mellon .

It fell as much as 6 percent yesterday, and was last trading down 4.4 percent at US$54,941. Rival cryptocurrency ether fell 7 percent to US$1,798 after also hitting a record high on Saturday.

Traders said the move was largely technical, and not tied to any particular news catalyst.

“We did finally see some momentum gathering over the weekend, but weekend rallies haven’t been sustainable lately,” said Joseph Edwards of Enigma Securities, a cryptocurrency broker in London. “We do tend to think that there’s a good chance of a down week and small correction coming in off of this, although it does little to dull medium-term prospects.”