Bitcoin tanks 14% in 24 hours, falls below $40,000 mark as sell-off continues

Bitcoin continued to plummet on Tuesday, falling below the $40,000 mark and extending losses to 14% in the last 24 hours. Bitcoin has dropped below $40,000 for the first time since February 9 this year. The cryptocurrency has been falling constantly this month, overwhelmed by the recent spiral of negative news surrounding the currency. Currently, Bitcoin is trading at $39,000, recouping some losses after hitting a low of $38,585, according to Coindesk data.

Earlier this month, Tesla CEO Elon Musk suspended payment for Tesla cars using Bitcoin, citing environmental concerns. Elon Musk, last weekend, also suggested that Tesla might do away with its Bitcoin holdings. Tesla had bought $1.5 billion of Bitcoin earlier this year, 10% of which was later sold by the electric car manufacturer. Bitcoin has come down 38% from its all-time high of $64,829, hit in the middle of April.

Elon Musk, while slandering Bitcoin for its environmental concerns has been batting for Dogecoin, another cryptocurrency. “Bitcoin is actually highly centralised, with supermajority controlled by a handful of big mining (aka hashing) companies,” Elon Musk wrote on Twitter. “Ideally, Doge speeds up block time 10X, increases block size 10X & drops fee 100X. Then it wins hands down,” he added.

With its most recent fall, Bitcoin has now given up all gains since the first week of February, when Elon Musk’s Tesla announced it had bought $1.5 billion worth of Bitcoin to hold on its books. Meanwhile, Microstrategy, another US-listed firm that holds Bitcoin on its books has bought the dip and purchased another $10 million worth of Bitcoin.