Bitcoin drops to 22-month low as stock markets falter

HONG KONG/LONDON, May 9 (Reuters) – Bitcoin slumped to its lowest level since July 2021 on Monday as a slump in stock markets continued to hurt cryptocurrencies, which are currently trading in line with so-called riskier assets such as technology stocks.

Bitcoin dropped as low as $3,2763.16 shortly before 1100 GMT, in its fifth consecutive session of decline.

The cryptocurrency is down 13% so far in May and has lost more than half its value since hitting an all-time high of $69,000 in November last year.

“I think everything inside crypto is still classified as a risky asset, and similar to what we saw on the Nasdaq, most cryptocurrencies are crashing,” said Matt Deeb, COO of crypto platform Stack Funds in Singapore.

Nasdaq Heavy Technology (nineteenth) It fell 1.5% last week, and lost 22% year-to-date, weighed by the prospect of persistent inflation, forcing the US Federal Reserve to raise interest rates despite slowing growth. Nasdaq futures were down 2.3% on Monday. READ MORE MKTS-GLOB

Depp said other factors that triggered the pullback over the weekend — bitcoin closed at around $36,000 on Friday — were low liquidity in the cryptocurrency market over the weekend, and short-term fears that the algorithmic stablecoin Terra USD (UST) could lose. Pegging its currency to the dollar. .

Stablecoins are digital tokens that are tied to other traditional assets, often US dollars.

The crypto community is closely watching UST because of the new way it maintains its 1:1 peg to the dollar, and because its founders have plans to build $10 billion worth of bitcoin to back the stablecoin, which means volatility. In UST it could extend to the bitcoin markets. Read more

Ether, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency that supports the Ethereum network, fell to $2,360 on Monday, its lowest level since late February.

Editing by Kim Coogle

Our criteria: Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.