Bitcoin surpassed the $42,000 mark over the weekend, following last week’s crash which saw the world’s largest cryptocurrency drop towards $40,000 from around $48,000. 
 
At the time of writing, Bitcoin stands at $41,818, whilst Ether and the majority of CoinDesk’s top 20 altcoins were up, despite falling over the last week.
 
Following the publication of the minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, Bitcoin and most other cryptocurrencies declined, on forecasts there would be rate hikes in the U.S. as soon as March. 
 
On Saturday, Bitcoin fell to $40,505.3 on Coinbase, the lowest point since 21 September, before rebounding over the $42,000 mark, as per data from TradingView and Coinbase. 
 
Before the weekend, the price of Bitcoin fell for six consecutive days, which was heightened on the publication of the Fed minutes: “The minutes confirmed a strong hawkish bias with markets now pricing in a 90% chance of a Fed [rate] hike in March,” according to Singapore-based crypto quant trading firm QCP Capital. “...In the bigger picture, it seems likely that the all-time highs in BTC and ETH will remain capped for most of 2022 as a result of central bank tightening.” 
 
Many investors are of the opinion that Bitcoin has gained from the Fed’s ultra-loose monetary policy over the past few years since the pandemic, with over $4 trillion printed to boost traditional markets. As such, reversing these policies is viewed as a new headwind for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.
 
January is typically a seasonally weak month for Bitcoin, reports CoinDesk, but this year has been particularly tough, with the price down 9% so far in the New Year.