Bitcoin price falls below $70,000 as $1.3 billion in leveraged bets are wiped out

The bitcoin price fell below the $70,000 mark overnight into Friday. At around 4:50 a.m. CET on Friday morning, one bitcoin cost roughly $69,000, or €62,400, according to CoinGecko, down 6.4 percent in 24 hours. The largest cryptocurrency last traded this low in August. The slide was driven mainly by forced selling of leveraged positions, accompanied by reports of a new military escalation in the Middle East and persistent outflows from US bitcoin ETFs.