Nov 11 (Reuters) – Shares of cryptocurrency and blockchain-related companies fell on Friday after one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges, FTX, announced it would begin bankruptcy proceedings in the United States. caused a massive meltdown.
Silvergate Capital (SI.N) fell 10% to lead the sector’s losses. Meanwhile, Bitcoin owner MicroStrategy (MSTR.O) fell 2.6%.
Crypto miners Riot Blockchain (RIOT.O) and Marathon Digital (MARA.O) each fell about 5%.
Bitcoin fell 3.6% to $16,919 as FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said he was stepping down.read more
“What was shocking was that this guy was the face of the cryptocurrency industry and it turned out that the emperor wasn’t wearing clothes,” said a managing member of New York hedge fund Great Hill Capital. said Thomas Hayes.
“And I think the real risk going forward is losing confidence in the asset class.”
The announcement comes just days after bigger rival Binance pulled out of its proposed FTX acquisition, and following the ferocious pace of customer withdrawals earlier this week, the afflicted company is estimated at around $9.4 billion. I’m in a hurry to raise dollars.
FTX’s turmoil, which saved other players in the recent crypto market crash, has raised concerns about the future of the crypto industry.
Robinhood Markets (HOOD.O), which lists Bankman-Fried as an investor, rose 3%. Online brokerages said Thursday they were not directly involved with FTX.read more
MicroStrategy and Silvergate tickers trend on investor-focused social media platform stocktwits.com, demonstrating a growing buzz among retail professionals.
The ProShares Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITO.P) is down 8% while the Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF (BITI.P) is up 7.4%.
Reported by Meda Singh and Bansari Mayur Kamdar of Bengaluru.Editing: Shinjini Ganguly
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