STORY: This is Crypto Weekly, with your top stories on alternative currencies. This week, how will Bitcoin fare during an extended period of rising interest rates?

The currency has scant experience of such choppiness - and that could be perilous for investors looking to capitalize on its recent dramatic drop.

Bitcoin tanked this week to its lowest level since July 2021, along with other risk assets such as tech stocks after the Fed amped up rates.

Those rates are expected to pass 3% early next year. The last time that happened was 2008. Before Bitcoin was even born.

Crypto price moves are baffling at the best of times, let alone when entering uncharted waters.

Robert Cantwell, portfolio manager at Upholdings, says for now the persistent volatility doesn't appear to overly concern investors.

"In fact this volatility is proving to be a feature within this universe. And as more folks have been coming into it and trading it, that volatility creates a lot of entertainment to the markets and potentially creates a lot of opportunity for long term investors. And so we think it's entirely plausible that crypto assets can persist with many more participants in years to come and that volatility variant may never dwindle."

Next up - Uganda's central bank has told Reuters it's considering whether to issue a digital currency.

The African nation has some concerns to work through, including consumer protection and financial inclusion.

Governments on the continent have approached digital currencies differently.

Nigeria launched its own digital currency last year, while Central African Republic last month adopted bitcoin as an official currency.

Finally, Gucci's jumping on the crypto bandwagon in some of its flagship U.S. stores.

Its high-end handbags and other luxury products can soon be bought using virtual currencies, including bitcoin.

A growing number of companies are warming to cryptos, bringing an asset class shunned by major financial institutions until a few years ago closer to the mainstream.