LONDON - Bitcoin fell 9 percent on Friday, leaving the best-known cryptocurrency down more than 30 percent this week and headed for its worst weekly performance since April 2013.
The cryptocurrency dropped to as low as $8,155 at 0915 GMT on the Luxembourg-based bitstamp exchange amid a broader rout in the market. Other large cryptocurrencies have lost more than 20 percent of their value in the last 24 hours of trading, according to Coinmarketcap.com.A growing regulatory backlash against digital coins has sent investors scrambling to sell this week. Bitcoin is down more than half from a December peak of almost $20,000 after it notched up a more than 1,000 gain last year.