Bitcoin’s value continued to decline over the weekend, falling below $34,000 (£27,630), according to the Coinbase cryptocurrency exchange.
Since its high in November last year, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value has dropped by half.
The decline in the value of digital assets coincides with a slump in stock markets throughout the world in recent days.
Some Asian markets fell again on Monday, with Japan’s benchmark Nikkei index falling by nearly 2%.
With a market capitalization of $650 billion, Bitcoin represents almost a third of the cryptocurrency market.
Ethereum, the world’s second largest cryptocurrency, has also dropped in value, losing more than 10% in the previous week.
Although the cryptocurrency market was relatively calm for much of 2022, turbulent trading in digital assets was not unheard of in prior years.
Individual individuals dominated trading for years, but professional investors such as hedge funds and money managers have lately entered the market.
Cryptocurrencies have increasingly mirrored the swings of global stock markets as more traditional investors trade digital assets.
Many institutional investors that purchase cryptocurrencies do so as risk assets, comparable to technology stocks.
Traditional investors will typically sell riskier assets and shift their money into safer investments during periods of market instability.
Central banks throughout the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia, hiked interest rates last week in a bid to combat increasing prices.
The Federal Reserve of the United States boosted its main lending rate by half a percentage point, the largest increase in more than two decades.
This has increased market fears that inflation and increasing borrowing costs will have a significant impact on global economic development.
Investors are also concerned about the global economic implications of the Ukraine conflict.
In the meanwhile, El Salvador and the Central African Republic have made Bitcoin legal money in the last year.
The International Monetary Fund has encouraged El Salvador to rethink its decision to enable customers to use cryptocurrencies alongside the US dollar in all transactions.