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Bitcoin fell below $20,000 for the first time in more than a month.
Dreamstime
Coinbase Global
and other cryptocurrency-exposed stocks fell on Monday thanks to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s hawkish speech on Friday at the Jackson Hole economic conference.
In a less than a 10-minute-long address to economists and central bankers, Powell indicated that the Fed would keep moving aggressively to raise interest rates until it returns inflation to its target of 2%. Higher interest rates, aimed at slowing the economy, aren’t good news for cryptocurrencies or companies that have their fortunes tied to Bitcoin, the world’s largest digital asset.
Crypto miners
Marathon Digital
(MARA) and Riot Blockchain (RIOT) fell 5%,
Coinbase
(COIN), a cryptocurrency exchange platform, was down 4%, while the digital payments group
Block
(SQ) lost 3%.
MicroStrategy
(MSTR), a software company with extensive
Bitcoin
holdings, fell 5.4%.
Early Monday, Bitcoin was trading at $19,795.79, trading below $20,000 for the first time since July 13. Its fall has lately mirrored the movement of stocks.
Tom Essaye, founder of Sevens Report Research, said he doesn’t see Bitcoin as any different from stocks. Both are “waiting on the resolution of what’s going to happen with the economy, and nobody knows,” he told Barron’s.
Write to Karishma Vanjani at karishma.vanjani@dowjones.com.