Bitcoin slips below $8,000 as investors step away from risk

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Bitcoin briefly fell below $8,000 on Monday as investors scaled back their exposure to cryptocurrenices, after a sell-off in shares of technology and internet companies spilled over into other risky assets.

The technology index <.SPLRCT> tumbled 1.79 percent as disappointing results last week from Facebook Inc (NASDAQ: FB), Twitter Inc (NYSE: TWTR) and Intel Corp (NASDAQ: INTC) spurred worries about growth for a sector that has led the equity market to record highs.

"It looks like the entire market is in a risk-off mood today. It started with the (FAANG) stocks, but the mood seems to be dragging down crypto markets as well at the moment," said Mati Greenspan, senior market analyst at eToro.

The so-called FAANG group includes Facebook, Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) Inc, Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ: AMZN) and Google parent Alphabet Inc (NASDAQ: GOOGL).

At 3:17 p.m. (1917 GMT), bitcoin , the world's biggest and best known virtual currency was down 2.48 percent at $8,011.69 on Luxembourg-based Bitstamp exchange.

"The current level of support is at $7,800, but even if we see a range between $6,000 and $8,000 it would be a good sign of price stability," Greenspan said.

Last Thursday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission backed an earlier decision to not allow a bitcoin-tracking exchange-traded fund proposed by Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss to trade.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; editing by Leslie Adler)

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