Crypto Update: Crypto stocks and funds close sharply lower, as bitcoin plunges briefly to a 2-year low

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Crypto company shares and funds closed sharply lower on Tuesday as bitcoin dropped briefly to a two-year low, even though the three major U.S. equity indexes ended higher.

Bitcoin
BTCUSD,
-0.18%

tumbled to as low as $17,484 Tuesday, the lowest level since Nov. 2020, after Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, said it had signed a letter of intent to acquire the non-U.S. assets of rival FTX, which faces a “significant liquidity crunch.”

Read: Bitcoin falls to two-year low after crypto exchange Binance proposed to buy rival FTX

Bitcoin lost over 12% to around $18,374 over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. Ether
ETHUSD,
-0.16%

fell 17.6% over the past 24 hours. The 50 largest cryptocurrencies, except some dollar-pegged stablecoins, are all in red Tuesday. 

Shares in Crypto exchange Coinbase
COIN,
-10.78%

closed down 10.6% at around $50.92, according to Dow Jones Market data. MicroStrategy
MSTR,
-20.55%

finished 21% lower at around $211.8.

Mining company Riot Blockchain
RIOT,
-7.30%

shares went down 7.4% to around $5.30, and Marathon Digital Holdings
MARA,
-5.14%

shares lost 5.2% to $9.96. Another miner, Ebang International Holdings Inc.
EBON,
-1.44%

shares dropped 1.4% to around $0.31. 

Among crypto funds, ProShares’s Bitcoin Strategy ETF
BITO,
-13.39%

plummeted 13.2% to $11.15, while its Short Bitcoin Strategy ETF
BITI,
+12.97%

rallied 13.2% to $40.06. Valkyrie Bitcoin Strategy ETF
BTF,
-13.47%

tanked 13.5% to $6.94, and Grayscale Bitcoin Trust
GBTC,
-12.40%

dived 12.5% to $10.55.