The price of Bitcoin (BTC) fell 4% in May, its first monthly decline of the year.
Prior to May, Bitcoin had been on a blistering rally since January. And, despite the 4% drop last month, the price of Bitcoin has still gained 62% year to date, outpacing the stock market by a wide margin.
Bitcoin is currently trading around $27,000 U.S., up substantially from less than $16,000 U.S. last December in the wake of the $8 billion U.S. collapse of the FTX crypto exchange.
Bitcoin’s decline in May came as investors and traders grapple with rising uncertainty about the future direction of interest rates, an economic recession, and a potential debt default in the U.S.
Higher interest rates have proven to be a headwind for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.
While Bitcoin’s value fell in May, the price of Ethereum (ETH), the second largest cryptocurrency, rose nearly 2% during the month.
Bitcoin is seeing more user activity on its network this year.
A new protocol called “Ordinals” expands Bitcoin’s blockchain use case, leading to a record for daily transactions carried out year to date, according to data from Dune Analytics.
