Bitcoin dropped briefly below $40,000 for the first time since August amid rising criticism from regulators, before rallying as the mood in global markets improved.

The largest cryptocurrency broke a three-day losing streak, rising 2.9% to $42,132 as of 6:34 a.m. London time on Wednesday. It earlier slid as much as 3.2% to $39,625. Tokens including Ether, Solana and Litecoin were slightly lower over the past 24 hours.

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