Shares of technology companies fell sharply as a financial crisis rippled through the world of cryptocurrencies.

The price of bitcoin plunged to a two-year low after crypto exchange Binance walked away from a deal to buy collapsing competitor FTX following a review of the company's structure and books.

The Securities and Exchange Commission is now widening a probe of FTX, some of whose tokens the agency suspected of constituting securities. Among publicly traded cryptocurrency issues, Riot Blockchain fell sharply.

Shares of game designer Roblox shares tumbled after it reported a sharply widened loss for the third quarter.

Tesla shares tumbled to a roughly two-year low after reports that Chief Executive Elon Musk had sold $3.95 billion of stock, confirming fears that his acquisition of Twitter would force sales of some of his stake in the electric-car maker.

Computer services giant International Business Machines said it has created a more powerful quantum computing chip, the next step in its years long effort to build quantum machines capable of delivering business value to companies.


 Write to Rob Curran at rob.curran@dowjones.com 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-09-22 1749ET