Bitcoin slumped back to below $4,000 after a wave of record highs since its split into two separate cryptocurrencies.

The price of the virtual currency had soared to a record new high of $4,500 on Thursday, but is now trading at $3,977 - a seven-day low.

Bitcoin prices have been rising steadily over the past two weeks following an event known as a hard fork, which resulted in two competing strands of the cryptocurrency emerging.

The virtual currency’s online community became divided over the best way to process bitcoin transactions following a surge in popularity this year, leading to the split.