Bitcoin price crashes over $1,000

The world's most popular cryptocurrency bitcoin dropped below $7,000 on Friday, having fallen by well over $1,000 since hitting an all-time high set earlier this week.

Bitcoin was trading at $ 6,832 at 2:00pm GMT on Friday, fixing the drop at 3.64 percent, according to data compiled by industry website Coinmarketcap.

On Wednesday, the world's most valued virtual currency touched $7,888 on news that a controversial software upgrade planned for next week was suspended. The change was to introduce a new code proposal, Segwit2x, which could create a competing cryptocurrency, Bitcoin2x.

As bitcoin plunged, Bitcoin Cash, a clone of the original that was generated from another split earlier this year, briefly surged as much as 35 percent on the day to around $850. The offshoot was trading at $772.32 at 12:36pm GMT.

Despite losing almost seven percent during this...