Bitcoin just dropped sharply and suddenly
- Bitcoin fell by more than 2% in a matter of minutes Tuesday afternoon.
- The severe drop comes just hours after New York's Attorney General launched an investigation into crypto exchanges.
- Follow bitcoin's price in real-time here.
The price of bitcoin tumbled more than 2% in a matter of minutes Tuesday afternoon, just hours after New York's Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced an investigation into major cryptocurrency exchanges.
It wasn't immediately clear what may have caused the sudden drop, but Schneiderman's letters to 13 major cryptocurrency platforms, including New York-based Gemini and Coinbase's GDAX, could have a possible chilling effect on the crypto space at large.
Bitcoin was trading at $7,900 per token at the time of writing, down roughly $160 for the day. While still the largest cryptocurrency by market cap, the price of bitcoin has declined by 41% since the beginning of the year.
Most other major cryptocurrencies were in the green Tuesday, with third-largest digital currency litecoin leading the way after Korbit, a Korean trading exchange, said it would support the token.
Reuters also reported Tuesday that Cambridge Analytica, the firm at the heart of Facebook's ongoing data privacy imbroglio, was planning to issue a digital currency.
You can track the price of bitcoin in real-time here>>
