Bitcoin fell back below $66,000 on Friday at the start of the US session, as growing macroeconomic risks deter investors from turning to risky assets.
The largest cryptocurrency has now erased most of Wednesday’s rise, plunging 3% from around $68,000 in the past few hours to $65,600 in the morning. The CoinDesk 20 global market index was down 2.3% over the past 24 hours, with Ether (ETH), XRP (XRP) and Solana (SOL) down by similar amounts.
Crypto-related stocks also followed suit, giving up some of the gains earlier this week. Strategy (MSTR), the largest corporate Bitcoin holder, fell 3%, while Coinbase (COIN) was down more than 2%. Issuer Stablecoin Circle (CRCL) fell nearly 5%, ending its rebound that saw the stock gain nearly 50% in a few sessions.
Miners, increasingly tied to the development of AI infrastructure, performed even worse, with IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Core Scientific (CORZ) and TeraWulf (WULF) losing 6-8%.
The action came as U.S. stock indexes fell, with the Nasdaq down 0.8% and the S&P 500 down 0.6%.
As a backdrop, there was a mix of risks that investors needed to worry about.
A higher-than-expected producer price index (PPI) inflation figure for last month spooked those hoping for a continuation of the slowing inflation trend. In January, the core PPI rose 3.6% year-over-year, above the 3.0% estimate and up from 3.3% previously. Markets are now pricing in a 96% chance that there will be no rate cut at the March 18 Federal Reserve meeting.
Concerns about strains in credit markets also persist, with credit spreads hitting their highest level in four months. Private equity firms KKR (KKR), Ares (ARES) and Apollo Global Management (APO) plunged 6-7% to new lows during the session.
On top of that, the market’s odds of predicting US strikes against Iran increased this morning after the US began evacuating its embassy staff from Israel.
Money flows into safe havens
In the fixed income sector, the 10-year US Treasury yield fell below 4% for the first time since November 2024. Precious metals continue to rally, with gold rising 1% to above $5,230 an ounce, while silver jumped 4% to return above $92. Meanwhile, crude oil jumped 2.3% to above $67 a barrel.
Read more: The worst could await us. Bitcoin chart revisits historical pattern
