Bitcoin plunges below $6,000 alongside global stock markets

Bonds, as measured by the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond Exchange-Traded Fund (TLT), are falling, down 2.58 percent for the year so far. That’s still far less than bitcoin.

Finally, bitcoin’s latest decline shows it is quite correlated to major financial assets, in contrast to digital currency enthusiasts who have touted cryptocurrencies as an investment class disconnected from the performance of global financial markets.

Bitcoin 12-month performance

Source: CoinDesk

Bitcoin became increasingly touted as an uncorrelated store of value during its 2,000 percent surge in just 12 months to more than $19,000. It still holds gains of several hundred percent since last February.

But that designation of being an investment asset breaks bitcoin’s original promise of being a “peer-to-peer electronic cash system.” The cryptocurrency has struggled to fulfill that intent, amid disagreements about network upgrades. The median transaction fee is around $2.60, according to BitInfoCharts, while Blockchain.info shows the average confirmation time is about 10 hours.