Bitcoin sinks to fresh 18-month low of $20,079 as crypto meltdown deepens

The value of the global crypto market has tumbled 70% to under $900 billion from a peak of $2.97 trillion in November, CoinMarketCap data shows

Bitcoin slumped on Wednesday to a new 18-month low, dragging smaller tokens down with it and deepening a market meltdown sparked by crypto lender Celsius this week freezing customer withdrawals.
 

The world's largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 7.8% to $20,079.72, its lowest since December 2020. It has lost about 33% of its value against the U.S. dollar since Friday, dropping more than 50% since the beginning of the year.
 

It has slumped about 70% from its record high of $69,000 in November. Bitcoin was last down 3.4% at $21,336.
 

The digital currency sector has been pummelled this week after