(Bloomberg) -- Hedge funds are wagering that Bitcoin's free-fall will keep going.
Leveraged funds, which include hedge funds, held 2,974 short positions in Cboe Global Markets Inc.'s Bitcoin futures as of Tuesday, a fivefold jump from the prior week. Long bets dropped to 895 contracts, down 22 percent from a week earlier, according to weekly data released Friday by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Bitcoin's already lost more than half its value since mid-December. Cryptocurrencies have been pummeled by a wave of bad news, including the threat of more regulation from governments including the U.S., China, South Korea and India. This week, Facebook Inc. banned ads for digital currencies and Bloomberg News revealed that the CFTC subpoenaed Bitfinex, one of the biggest crypto-exchanges.
Read More: Digital Coins Tumble in January Amid Facebook, Tether Concerns
To contact the reporter on this story: Nick Baker in Chicago at nbaker7@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Baker at nbaker7@bloomberg.net, Dan Reichl, Steven Crabill
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