Bitcoin and ether slumped to multi-month lows on Friday, with cryptocurrencies swept up in a broader flight from riskier assets as investors worried about lofty tech valuations and bets on near-term U.S. interest rate cuts faded. Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, fell 5.5% to a seven-month low of $81,668. Ether slid more than 6% to $2,661.37, its lowest in four months. Both tokens are down roughly 12% so far this week. Cryptocurrencies are often viewed as a barometer of risk appetite and their slide highlights how fragile the mood in markets has turned in recent days, with high-flying artificial intelligence stocks tumbling and volatility spiking VIX. “If it’s telling a story about risk sentiment as a whole, then things could start to get really, really ugly, and that’s the concern now,” Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG, said of the fall in bitcoin. About $1.2 trillion has been wiped…
