Largest U.S. Bitcoin exchange halts trading as cryptocurrencies plummet

Coinbase — the largest Bitcoin market in the U.S. — has disabled all buying and selling as the digital currency Bitcoin dramatically loses value. 

At 11:11 a.m. EST, Coinbase posted that it had temporarally disabled trading:

About 25 minutes later, at 11:35 a.m. EST, the company said it's still monitoring the problem:

This "high traffic" is largely in reference to activity in the Bitcoin market. Bitcoin is the world's highest-valued currency, as one Bitcoin hit nearly $20,000 this December.

But it's lost about a quarter of its value in the last 24 hours and the fickle currency is now trading at around $12,874 — and some exchanges around $11,000. Read more...