The price of bitcoin plummeted early Saturday, falling nearly $10,000 in roughly an hour to a temporary low of $42,000 before bouncing up to $45,000.
Bitcoin has fallen some $15,000 over the past 24 hours. Ether, the second largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, fell around $1,100 over the same time period.
The leading cryptocurrency reflected a broader drop in crypto markets, according to CoinDesk’s price index, with some cryptocurrencies falling more than 20% over the past 24 hours. Most of these assets appear to have suffered a sharp decline starting around 04:00 UTC Saturday.
According to CoinGecko, the overall market cap is currently hovering around $2 trillion.
Some are using this fall as an opportunity to “buy the dip.” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, whose country holds bitcoin on its balance sheet and has purchased coins during previous dips, announced another purchase of 150 BTC for around $48,700 each.