For the third time in a week, Bitcoin fell below the critical psychological level of $20,000 in Asia, just as news of record UK inflation reached investors. Bitcoin had been trading down about 3.5%, but had risen to $21,226.28 at press time.

Etherum was up 8.3% over 24 hours at $1,211.69

The inflation data out of the UK which spooked Bitcoin investors showed UK inflation running at a 40 year high of 9.1%, and projected it was going to rise to 11% by October.

Meanwhile Citigroup has come out and predicted the chance of a global recession has risen to 50%, as central banks across the globe begin raising interest rates.

Some investors had hoped Bitcoin would become a safe haven from inflation, on the premise that as currencies inflated, their value would decline, and the amount of bitcoin they would purchase would also decline. This might drive investors to head to Bitcoin on news of inflation. It was, for a time, postulated Bitcoin would work similarly to precious metals.

However in practice it now seems Bitcoin investors have concluded that bitcoin investing is dependent on investors needing a psychological perception of wealth to buy Bitcoin, and that any negative economic news impacts that psychological perception and will negatively impact the value of Bitcoin.