Bitcoin's price rose slightly on Monday, but remained confined to a narrow trading range, as escalating tensions related to the war with Iran and uncertainty surrounding new US regulations prompted traders to avoid digital assets.
The world's largest cryptocurrency rose 0.80% to $63,561.50, after falling by about 3% last week.
The rising aversion to risk, amid the ongoing US-Iranian standoff in the Strait of Hormuz, which has pushed oil prices higher, has contributed to a decline in appetite for speculative assets, such as digital currencies.
Continued capital outflows from major Bitcoin-linked exchange-traded funds have also negatively impacted the currency, which is still trading nearly 50% below its record high set in October.
The prevailing caution ahead of a highly anticipated meeting at the White House, which will include top leaders from the digital currency sector and is scheduled to take place later this week, has kept digital currency markets on edge.
Trump to meet with cryptocurrency leaders at the White House this week
President Donald Trump is expected to attend a meeting of his administration's new innovation committee at the White House on Wednesday, according to CoinDesk.
The meeting is scheduled to be attended by a number of CEOs of cryptocurrency companies and leaders of prediction markets, as well as representatives from the traditional finance and artificial intelligence sectors.
Wednesday's meeting is a prelude to another meeting at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which oversees the Innovation Committee, scheduled for Thursday.
The commission is expected to discuss further regulations concerning digital currencies during this meeting, which comes amid ongoing debate among lawmakers over the passage of the long-delayed Clarity Act.
Bitcoin ETFs are experiencing sharp weekly outflows
Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) saw outflows of around $390 million last week, according to data from data aggregator SosoValue.
These outflows are the worst since the beginning of July, and coincided with a decline in the price of Bitcoin by about 3%.
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets lagged behind the rally in technology and artificial intelligence stocks last week, as positive results from chipmakers boosted sentiment in the sector.
Cryptocurrency prices today: Altcoins recover after weekly losses
Cryptocurrency prices rose more broadly on Monday, keeping pace with Bitcoin's recovery from last week's losses.
Ethereum, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, rose 1.20% to $1,903.00, after falling 1.80% last week.
Ripple and BNP Paribas also rose slightly, as did Solana and Cardano.
The meme currencies Dogecoin and Trump rose by 0.90% and 1.00% respectively.
