Bitcoin plummets more than 12 per cent to below $15,000

Difference in prices was as much as $4,000 on some exchanges for the same bitcoin asset

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Bitcoin tumbled more than 12 per cent in volatile Asian trading on Friday, dropping below the $15,000 level after touching a record high above $16,000 earlier in the session.

Bitcoin was down 12.6 per cent on the Bitstamp exchange at $14,500.76 as of 0530 GMT, after rising to a record $16,666.66.

It was still up more than 30 per cent for the week, as investors debated about whether the cryptocurrency was in a bubble that was about to burst.

The Financial Times reported that the prices of the digital currency fluctuated between a high of $19,000 and $15,000 on the Coinbase trading venue in a 20-minute period on Thursday, leaving other exchanges struggling to cope. The difference in prices on other cryptocurrency exchanges was as much as $4,000 for the same bitcoin asset.

Investors are hoping that the trading of bitcoin futures contracts on the Chicago-based Cboe Global Markets on December 10 will temper the currency's ongoing volatility.