Investing.com - Shares in cryptocurrency-exposed stocks slipped on Monday, dragged down by a fall in the price of Bitcoin and a broader market sell-off.
Bitcoin fell below $100,000 on Monday, tracking a wider decline in equity markets, as technology stocks were unsettled by a disruptive new artificial intelligence model from Chinese start-up DeepSeek.
Sentiment in financial markets across the world was hit by speculation around the impact of DeepSeek's product, which the company said can rival OpenAI's ChatGPT in performance for a fraction of the cost. Although doubts surround the claim, the model has exacerbated worries around the potential return on massive investments recently made by a host of tech giants on their AI infrastructure.
Lingering uncertainty over what President Donald Trump’s policies will entail for the crypto industry also weighed on Bitcoin. Trump has announced fresh -- albeit relatively vague -- plans to draft a regulatory framework for the sector. On the campaign trail, Trump vowed to oversee an era of looser regulatory restrictions for the crypto sector following a period of scrutiny during the Biden administration.
Elsewhere, investors were watching Trump's threat to impose 25% trade tariffs on Colombia over the country's refusal to comply with his stance on deporting migrants. Colombia’s government later accepted Trump’s demands, and the White House has stated that the proposed levies were now on hold.
Still, Trump’s move drummed up fears that he will make good on separate threats to impose duties on other major economies, including Mexico, Canada, China, and the European Union.
Risk appetite was also dented by expectations around an upcoming Federal Reserve policy meeting this week, with the central bank widely tipped to hold interest rates and strike a hawkish chord.
By 07:23 ET (12:23 GMT), Bitcoin decreased by 5.6% to $98,987.9. World no.2 crypto Ether fell more than 7% to $3,060.67, while XRP sank by just over 11% to $2.78.
Several crypto-linked stocks subsequently tumbled in premarket US trading on Monday, including digital asset miners Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and Cipher Mining (NASDAQ:CIFR), as well as coin exchange Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN) and Bitcoin-stockpiler MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR).