Bitcoin’s value continued to decline over the weekend, falling below $34,000 (£27,630), according to the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange.
Since it reached $67,000 in November last year, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value has dropped by half.
The drop in the value of digital assets is happening at the same time that the global stock market is experiencing a decline.
Some Asian markets fell again on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei index falling by approximately 2.5 percent.
Bitcoin accounts for nearly a third of the cryptocurrency sector, with a market valuation of $640 billion.
Ethereum, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, has also lost value in the recent week, shedding more than 10%.
Although the cryptocurrency market remained relatively quiet for the majority of 2022, volatile digital asset trading was not unheard of in previous years.
For years, individual investors dominated trade, but professional investors like hedge funds and money managers have recently entered the market.
As more traditional investors trade digital assets, cryptocurrency prices are rapidly mirroring those of global stock markets.
Many institutional investors buy cryptocurrencies as risk assets, similar to stocks in the technology sector.
Uber was one of the companies that contributed to the decrease.
On Monday, the company’s stock plunged more than 5% after media sources reported that CEO Dara Khosrowshahi had told employees that investors were growing warier about making investments. Uber would respond, he added, by cutting costs and limiting hiring.
“It’s clear that the market is experiencing a seismic shift, and we need to react accordingly,” he wrote in the letter. “The average employee at Uber is barely over 30, which means you’ve spent your career in a long and unprecedented bull run. This next period will be different, and it will require a different approach.”
During instances of market volatility, traditional investors would often sell riskier assets and move their money into safer investments.
Last week, central banks around the world, including the US, the UK, and Australia, raised interest rates in an effort to battle increasing prices.
The US Federal Reserve raised its key lending rate by half a percentage point, the greatest increase in almost two decades.
This has heightened market concerns that rising borrowing costs and inflation will have a severe impact on global economic growth.
Investors are also concerned about the war in Ukraine’s worldwide economic ramifications.
Meanwhile, El Salvador and the Central African Republic have recently made Bitcoin legal tender.
El Salvador has been urged by the International Monetary Fund to reconsider its decision to enable consumers to use bitcoin alongside the US dollar in all transactions.
