BitcoinEthereum

Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies have dropped in value over the last 24 hours following an unexpectedly high UK inflation figure for March of more than 10%.

BTC lost 4% in value over 24 hours to below $29k at the time of writing (just after 7am UK).

The overall crypto market fell 5% in the same period to $1.21 trillion.

The inflation figure led to speculation that the Bank of England could hike interest rates by 25 basis points in May.

Pseudonymous crypto Twitter trader @52kskew also highlighted an unusually large sell order of 16,000 BTC on Binance – worth more than $450 million at current prices – which preceded the fall and may have influenced the market.

A week ago BTC topped $30,000 for the first time since June last year. The flagship cryptocurrency was below $17k at the start of the year.

It appears unaffected by the market turmoil exacerbated by the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank more than a month ago.

Meanwhile Ether (ETH) has dropped below $2,000 for the first time in almost a week, while every other major coin was trading in red for the last 24 hours.