Bitcoin price falls to lowest since September, down 40% from record high
Bitcoin price continued to extend its decline as it plunged below $42,000 to levels not seen since September. The world's biggest cryptocurrency has lost over $27,000 or 40% since hitting a record high of almost$69,000 in November 2021.
The digital declined as much as 4.9% to $41,008. On the other hand, Ether, coin linked to ethereum blockchain and the second-largest, dropped as much as 9% to its lowest level since September 30. Both of those tokens, as well as others including Binance Coin, Solana, Cardano and XRP are down more than 10% in the past seven days, according to CoinGecko.
The recent swings in cryptocurrencies come amid a volatile period for financial markets. Spiking inflation is forcing central banks to tighten monetary policy, threatening to reduce the liquidity tailwind that lifted a wide range of assets.
Bitcoin gained about 60% last year, outperforming other asset classes amid a narrative that included institutional adoption, inflation protection and investment diversification. It’s struggled in recent weeks, though, amid a volatile period for financial markets.
The Bitcoin hash rate, a measure of the network’s computing power, dropped to 176 million terahashes on Thursday from a record of about 208 million on Jan. 1, according to data from Blockchain.com.
(With inputs from agencies)
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