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Bitcoin Slumps 10 Percent in Biggest Drop Since Before Futures

Bitcoin was trading at $16,626.42 in Hong Kong, down about 15% from a record high on Monday.

Bitcoin Slumps 10 Percent in Biggest Drop Since Before Futures
A cryptocurrency mining rig composed of Asus Strix machines operates at the SberBit mining ‘hotel’ in Moscow, Russia. (Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Lost in the hubbub over the feeding frenzy in cryptocurrencies and related stocks is the original digital coin itself.

Bitcoin fell as much as 10 percent to less than $17,000 on Tuesday, the steepest decline since before futures were first introduced on Dec. 10.

Investors have shown more interest in smaller digital coins such as ether and ripple, where gains have lagged bitcoin’s 17-fold rally this year, and as others speculate there is more room to gain because of their smaller market capitalizations.

Bitcoin Slumps 10 Percent in Biggest Drop Since Before Futures

To contact the reporters on this story: Jeremy Herron in New York at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Randall Jensen in New York at rjensen18@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Jeremy Herron at jherron8@bloomberg.net, Dave Liedtka

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