Bitcoin falls to 11-day low on tech sell-off

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LONDON (Reuters) – Bitcoin fell below $100,000 on Monday, hitting an 11-day low, in a move analysts attributed to a wave of caution after the rising popularity of a Chinese artificial intelligence model sparked a sell-off in Western AI-related stocks .

The world’s biggest cryptocurrency struggled to make gains last week as a rally that had seen it break above $100,000 after the election of US President Donald Trump ran out of steam.

At 1156 GMT, bitcoin was at $98,852.17, down about 6% on the day, after falling sharply in early trade to hit its lowest since January 16.

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Tech stocks plunged as traders worried that Chinese AI startup DeepSeek could threaten Western firms’ dominance of the sector, in a move some called AI’s “Sputnik moment,” referring to the former Soviet Union’s launch of a satellite that marked the start of the space race in the late 1950s.

Bitcoin’s losses “appear to be driven by some risk-off sentiment circulating in the markets at the moment due to DeepSeek,” wrote eToro analyst Simon Peters.

Geoffrey Kendrick, global head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, said a fall in Nasdaq futures had hurt crypto markets, but disappointment over the Trump administration’s announcement of a cryptocurrency stockpile had put digital assets at greater risk of a sharp selloff .

Crypto was not included in Trump’s Day-1 announcements after taking office last week, leaving some investors disappointed. In an executive order on Thursday, Trump created a task force to draft new crypto regulations and explore a crypto repository, while the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) nailed accounting guidelines that the industry said had hindered crypto adoption.

The prospect of interest rates staying higher for longer also hurts riskier assets, said Thomas Puech, CEO of digital asset hedge fund Indigo.

Federal Reserve policymakers are meeting this week and are expected to keep interest rates on hold.

(Reporting by Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Amanda Cooper and Louise Heavens)