The price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell around 8% in a span of 10 minutes, causing the cryptocurrency to dip well under $26,000 before partially recovering.
BTC was hovering around $27,677 on Aug. 17 at 9:30 pm UTC time before tumbling just over 8% to $25,409, according to Coinmarketcap.
The price of Bitcoin was even lower on the crypto exchange Bitfinex, hitting a low of $24,715 before making a partial recovery back above $26,000.
Initial reactions from the X (Twitter) community have pegged the price drop to reports that SpaceX wrote down the value of BTC it previously acquired by $373 million and sold the cryptocurrency, while others have pointed to China’s Evergrande Group filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in New York.
The fall has taken Bitcoin's market cap below $500 billion for the first time since June 16 and hit lows not seen since June 20.
Related: Bitcoin bulls risk trading range loss as BTC price nears 2-month lows
Cryptocurrency analyst Will Clemente noted that Bitcoin saw the largest single-day increase in BTC implied volatility this year.
Biggest single-day increase in Bitcoin implied volatility of the entire year
Is the volatility drought finally over? pic.twitter.com/tDfU5qMCwY— Will Clemente (@WClementeIII) August 17, 2023
Despite the dip, BTC is still up 60% since it entered 2023 at about $16,550.
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