Bitcoin fell below $69,000 on Thursday as a broader pullback in risk assets accelerated, with initial optimism about peace between Iran and the United States and easing tensions in the Middle East fading.
The largest crypto has lost more than 3% from its overnight high above $71,000, while major altcoins Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), Solana’s SOL (SOL) and Cardano’s ADA (ADA) have plunged 4-5% over the same period.
Oil prices remain the barometer of the broader market. Crude oil futures rose about 4%, reversing earlier declines and reinforcing concerns about inflation and supply disruptions linked to the Iran conflict.
U.S. stocks were at session lows just after midday on the East Coast, dragged down by the Nasdaq’s 1.4% decline. Bond yields were up sharply: the 10-year US Treasury up 7 basis points to 4.40%, and the 10-year German Bund up 10.5 basis points to 3.06%.
Notably, all Magnificent Seven stocks are now all down double-digit percentages from their all-time highs, with NVIDIA (NVDA) down 18%, Meta (META) 30%, Amazon (AMZN) 20%, Alphabet (GOOG) 19%, Microsoft (MSFT) 34%, Tesla (TSLA) 25%, and Apple (APPL) down 14%.
“Looking ahead, the near-term trajectory will likely remain tied to macroeconomic developments,” said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group.
A clearer path to de-escalation could push risk assets, including Bitcoin, higher, he said, while continued uncertainty could leave them stuck in an unstable range.
Crypto-related stocks also saw significant losses: Coinbase (COIN), Circle (CRCL), and Strategy (MSTR) were down 3-4%.
The biggest losses have come from Bitcoin miners, almost all of which are transitioning or have completely evolved into AI infrastructure plays and are therefore more tied to technology in general than crypto prices. Hut 8 (HUT) fell 8.6%, while IREN (IREN) and Riot Platforms (RIOT) fell more than 7%. TeraWulf (WULF) and HIVE Digital (HIVE) also saw sharp declines.
Shares of WhiteFiber (WYFI) fell 14% after its fourth-quarter results showed deteriorating fundamentals, with a net loss widening to $1.5 million and a full-year loss of $24.7 million. WhiteFiber’s parent company, Bit Digital (BTBT), saw its shares fall about 8%.
A few names, however, buck the trend. MARA Holdings (MARA) rose 8.7% after announcing the sale of $1.1 billion in bitcoin to pay down debt.
