Bitcoin Drops 50% in Epic Two-Day Tumble

(Bloomberg) — Bitcoin is proving to be no haven asset amid the current global market meltdown.

The largest digital currency continued to plummet in Asia Friday as a rout that began in earnest overnight in New York showed no signs of slowing down. Bitcoin dropped as much as 32% to $3,915, its weakest since March 2019, according to consolidated pricing compiled by Bloomberg. Its 50% drop over the past two days is among the biggest ever.

The wider Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index tracking a basket of digital assets hit a historic low in data going back to August 2017, sliding 47% over the two session. Rival tokens including Ether, XRP, Litecoin and others are all down at least 20% across the board.

“This sell-off has caused cascading margin calls with the vast majority of investors shifting to exposure to cash,” said Wayne Trench, chief executive of digital asset brokerage and exchange operator OSL. “In this situation, correlation converges to 1 and even impacts potential ‘safe…