Over $170 billion wiped off cryptocurrencies as market tanks on Mt. Gox bitcoin payout fears

Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday as investors focused on the payout of nearly $9 billion to users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

As of 10:50 a.m. London time, bitcoin’s price slumped nearly 6% in 24 hours to hit $54,500.53, marking the first time it’s traded below the $55,000 level since Feb. 27, according to data from CoinGecko.

Rival token ether sank around 9% to $2,872.10.

Altogether, the entire cryptocurrency market has shed more than $170 billion in combined market capitalization in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.

On Friday, the trustee for the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate, Nobuaki Kobayashi, said in a statement that it had begun making repayments in bitcoin and bitcoin cash to some of the creditors through a number of designated crypto exchanges.

Source: CNBC