The price of bitcoin has fallen by more than 50 per cent since its peak amid a broader crypto market crash.
The world’s leading cryptocurrency fell below $59,000 on Monday, eight months after peaking at $126,000.
Other major cryptocurrencies have experienced significant losses in 2026, with ethereum (ETH), Ripple (XRP) and Dogecoin (DOGE) all dropping by more than half since the start of the year.
The overall market has fallen from $4.28 trillion in October, to just above $2 trillion at the end of June.
The losses follow a period of record-breaking growth for the market in 2024 and 2025, which was boosted by massive inflows of institutional money through the first approved exchange-traded funds (ETFs) for bitcoin.
A so-called ‘halving’ event also diminished supply by slashing the amount of new bitcoins created through mining, while the arrival of Donald Trump to the White House offered optimism after he pledged to be the first “crypto president”.
The market has now been impacted by cooling investor sentiment, with ETF outflows totaling more than $4 billion in June.
Broader market turmoil brought about by geopolitical events has also contributed to tumbling prices.
“A crypto winter has descended, and bitcoin has hit the skids again this week on the frozen landscape,” Susannah Streeter, chief investment strategist at UK investment service Wealth Club, told The Independent.
“Bitcoin has also suffered as the ‘Trump bump’ that initially supercharged the market has well and truly slumped. The grand promises of making America the world’s crypto capital have yet to translate into the kind of market momentum many investors had hoped for.
“Instead, renewed inflation fears, exacerbated by the conflict in the Middle East, are paving the way for higher interest rates, which are freezing out speculative capital.”
Ms Streeter also noted the surge in investor interest in other higher risk assets like artificial intelligence stocks, which has drawn capital away from cryptocurrencies.
