Bitcoin has slipped below the $70,000 mark, erasing the gains made after Donald Trump’s return to the White House, as weakening investor demand and regulatory uncertainty weigh on the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
The digital asset fell to around $65,600 on Thursday, its lowest level since November 2024, amid a combination of hawkish signals from the US Federal Reserve, a slowdown in institutional buying and continued delays in crypto regulation.
Bitcoin had rallied sharply following Trump’s second election victory after he pledged to turn the US into the “crypto capital of the world”, fuelling expectations of lighter regulation and greater political backing for digital assets. However, those hopes have faded as progress on legislation has stalled and central banks have signalled they will keep interest rates higher for longer.
The cryptocurrency is now down around 30 per cent over the past year, as enthusiasm from both retail and institutional investors has cooled. Analysts say delays to US legislation aimed at creating a clear regulatory framework for digital assets have played a key role in undermining confidence.
The so-called Clarity Act, a bipartisan proposal designed to define how cryptocurrencies should be regulated, has been held up by disagreements within the sector and in Congress. In contrast, the UK has set out plans to bring cryptoasset firms under Financial Conduct Authority oversight from 2027, although that framework remains some way off.
In a research note, analysts at Deutsche Bank said regulatory inertia has slowed the integration of bitcoin into mainstream investment portfolios. They noted that while the recent sell-off looks sharp, it also reflects a retreat from highly speculative gains made over the past two years.
“Despite the recent drop, bitcoin remains around 370 per cent higher than in early 2023,” the bank said, adding that the steady selling suggests traditional investors are losing interest and broader pessimism around crypto is growing.
Created in 2008 by the pseudonymous developer Satoshi Nakamoto, bitcoin has no physical form and exists purely as computer code. Once worth almost nothing, it reached parity with the US dollar in 2011 and has since become the bellwether for the wider crypto market.
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Bitcoin falls below $70,000, wiping out post-election gains