Bitcoin Falls 4.3%, Slipping Below $9,000 for First Time in Two Weeks

Bitcoin fell 4.4 percent Friday, slipping below $9,000 for the first time in two weeks.

Analysts cited a lack of positive market drivers and speculation that the U.S. Federal Reserve might pause this year’s rate-cutting cycle, which could curb demand for the cryptocurrency as a potential inflation hedge.

The price dropped to $8,800 as of 18:57 UTC (1:57 p.m. New York time), according to Trading View. It’s still more than double where bitcoin was at the start of the year, leaving the cryptocurrency as one of the world’s best-performing asset classes in 2019.

Bitcoin had rallied more $2,000 in late October after Chinese President Xi Jinping declared that the country would embrace blockchain – the decentralized computing networks underpinning cryptocurrencies – as a “core” technology, followed by the reveal of hundreds of blockchain projects already in motion. Since then, though, the price had mostly fluctuated within a range between $9,100 and…