Investing.com - Bitcoin slumped sharply on Tuesday, as selling pressure intensified with the bulls looking increasingly wary of supporting the popular crypto below the psychological $10,000 mark.
Bitcoin fell 7.6% to $9,640.50 by 2:49 p.m. ET (17:49 GMT). It had been as low as $9,654.20. While there wasn't a clear reason for the slump , the move comes as many fear lawmakers could bash cryptocurrencies as Facebook's executive Dave Marcus was set to appear before a Senate committee to discuss Libra.
A day earlier, U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that the Trump administration and the Treasury had "very serious concerns" with the growth of cryptocurrencies, including Facebook's Libra coin.
Bitcoin fell below $10,000 for the second time in as many days and looks increasingly likely to end the day below the key technical level as traders rein in bullish bets, pressuring its market cap 4% lower to $172 billion.
Other cryptos were also engulfed in a sea of red, with Ripple falling 7.55% to $0.29214, Ehtereum down 14.80% to $197.12 and Litecoin slipping 15.46% to $78.32. The plunge in altcoins as analysts continued to debate whether the next move higher would be solely dominated by bitcoin.
American broadcaster and bitcoin bull Max Keiser recently suggested the cryptocurrency market rally would not include altcoins and boldly claimed the "altcoin phenomenon is finished."