Crypto market bloodbath as Mt. Gox bitcoin (BTC) payout approaches

Cryptocurrencies plunged on Friday ahead of the planned payout of nearly $9 billion to users of collapsed bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox.

As of 9:20 a.m. London, time, bitcoin’s price slumped more than 6% in 24 hours to hit $54,237.18, its lowest level since late February, according to data from CoinGecko.

Rival token ether sank around 10% to $2,869.36.

Altogether, the entire cryptocurrency market has shed more than $170 billion in combined market capitalization in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.

This breaking news story is being updated.