Bitcoin falls to new three-month low

Bitcoin fell to a three-month low overnight as investors anticipated tightening U.S. monetary policy and an internet shutdown in Kazakhstan, the world's second-largest bitcoin mining center, sparked jitters the lowest point.

Bitcoin prices fell below the $41,000 mark on Friday morning ET to $40,749.90, the lowest since Sept. 29 last year, according to data from the U.S.-based cryptocurrency research firm.

The world's largest cryptocurrency has been falling since earlier this week. The minutes of the Fed’s December meeting, released earlier, hinted that the Fed would scale back stimulus measures during the pandemic.

The hawkish remarks sparked a global stock market sell-off that also spilled over into the cryptocurrency space.

Bitcoin bulls often describe bitcoin as an asset unconnected to traditional financial markets, but experts are noting that bitcoin and stocks are moving more and more similarly, the report said.

Other digital currencies continued to fall on the day, with ether down 6.8% and Solana down 7.7%.

In another news that weighed on cryptocurrency prices, the Kazakh president shut down internet services following deadly protests against the government, the report said.

According to the Centre for Alternative Finance Research at the University of Cambridge in the UK, the Central Asian country accounts for 18% of the processing power of the Bitcoin network.

Bitcoin’s computing power “is not directly linked to the price of bitcoin, but it can show how secure the network is,” Marcus Sotiriu, an analyst at UK-based digital asset broker Global Block, said in a report. , so the drop in computing power could unnerve investors in the short term.”