Bitcoin price now on longest losing streak ever

The popular cryptocurrency is facing its worst price crisis in almost four years after a horror start to 2022.

Popular cryptocurrency bitcoin is facing its worst price crisis in almost four years, losing nearly 40 per cent of its value over the past two months.

The last time the digital coin saw a slump like this was in August 2018, The Sun reports.

Bitcoin was trading at around $US69,000 ($A96,000) back in November.

After a December crash, the cryptocurrency was trading at around $US50,000 ($A69,000).

However, the past week has seen its value decline even further and today it is valued at just under $US41,000 ($A570,000) at the time of writing.

It recently hit a new low of $US39,771.91 ($A55,438), according to Coin Metrics.

There’s concern the current price dip could put an end to hopes that bitcoin’s value would hit six figures this year.

Bitcoin has had a horror week.

In the past, the cryptocurrency has seen price slumps come after all-time price highs and has always recovered.

The current slump is thought to be down to several factors.

These include the US Federal Reserve releasing “hawkish” minutes last week. Bankers are sometimes referred to as “hawkish” if they announce tightening monetary policy.

The minutes stated that the Fed would be cutting back support for the US economy, which is bad news for riskier assets like crypto.

The crash has also been linked to the US stock market falling, which in turn has been linked to concerns that interest rates are about to rise.

On top of all that, a fifth of the global bitcoin mining network was taken down due to the current unrest in Kazakhstan.

The coin has dipped to $US39,000.

Kazakhstan is one of the largest bitcoin mining nations in the world along with the US.

But during violent protests sweeping the Central Asian country, internet access was cut off last week, which meant the number of computers that were mining bitcoin dramatically reduced.

Internet access is now said to have returned.

One finance expert thinks bitcoin’s worth could tank as low as $US10,000 ($A13,000) per coin.

Some experts think bitcoin is going to continue to tank.

Carol Alexander, professor of finance at Sussex University, previously told CNBC that bitcoin will “probably crash” in 2022.

She warned last year: “If I were an investor now I would think about coming out of bitcoin soon because its price will probably crash next year.”

Prof Alexander referred to bitcoin as more of a “toy” than an investment.

Her predictions contrast with those from experts at Goldman Sachs.

Goldman Sachs previously suggested that bitcoin could reach a staggering value of $US100,000 ($A130,000) this year.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and was reproduced here with permission