Bitcoin plunges 48% in a day wiping $93bn off crypto market value

Bitcoin was down 48% from a day ago to $4,001.60, according to data from Coindesk early on Friday.

Due to the fall, the market capitalization of the entire cryptocurrency market plummeted around $93.5bn in the same time frame.

The fall in cryptocurrency markets comes amid a broader sell-off in equities due to the coronavirus fears that are taking hold, impacting markets as governments worldwide continue to unveil measures to fight the spread of the disease.

In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed 2,352.60 points or 9.99% lower, its worst drop since the 1987 “Black Monday” market crash.

Despite bitcoin being called the “digital gold” and becoming a safe haven asset to park money in times of volatility, it has now erased all of its gains for the year and is in negative territory. The cryptocurrency is behaving more like a risk asset such as an equity.

Other cryptocurrencies suffered similar drops on Friday. Ethereum tanked 49% at 10:24 a.m. Singapore time while XRP was down over 42%.

"There has been a general move to cash and Bitcoin has been hit particularly hard," Charles Hayter, CEO and founder of price tracking service CryptoCompare, told Newsweek.

"We are seeing more than 11000 trades per second across the [cryptocurrency] ecosystem, with blockchain data showing some intense movements across the onchain environment," Hayter continued. "Clearly the macroeconomic backdrop of fear and panic is driving this move."

Bitcoin is currently down 14.39% to 5,450p.