#DeepSeekImpact

Bitcoin on Monday briefly fell below the $100,000 level for the first time in a week, as Chinese startup DeepSeek raised the prospect of cheaper artificial-intelligence models, sparking a tech selloff and weighing on broader investor sentiment.

The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, bitcoin (BTCUSD) traded at as low as $97,740 earlier on Monday, according to Dow Jones Market Data. It recouped some losses to trade at around $101,518 by Monday evening. Bitcoin was still roughly 6.8% away from its record high at $109,225 reached on Jan. 20.

The DeepSeek news has "nothing to do with bitcoin," noted Jean Rausis, co-founder of the decentralized crypto exchange SMARDEX.