Almost $12,000 wiped off value of bitcoin in weekend ?thumping?

The value of bitcoin has suffered a "thumping", losing more than one-fifth of its value at at one point over the weekend before settling below $50,000 (£37,720), only a month after reaching a record high.

The value of the cryptocurrency rose above $68,000 in November and had been predicted to move even higher by the end of the year, amid concern about the value of traditional assets such as gold and government debt.

Some investors and analysts, including the Wall Street bank JP Morgan, have also seen bitcoin as a hedge against inflation, which has begun to take off in large economies including the UK and the US.

But the world's largest digital currency, which had reached a total market value of $1.1tn before the weekend's fall, has struggled to maintain momentum since reaching last month's all-time high.

Bitcoin began to slump markedly on Saturday, falling 22% from $53,890 to a temporary intraday low of $41,967 before recovering ground. On Monday, it was trading at $48,600, its lowest level since October.

The cryptocurrency has been volatile in recent months but remains many times more valuable than it was five years ago, when investors could pick up a single coin for $700.

Analysts at UBS bank blamed the weekend's slump on various factors including uncertainty before the bosses of cryptocurrency exchanges are due to face questioning from a US congressional committee on Wednesday.