Bitcoin Drops Below $63K, with altcoins following suit, as the cryptocurrency market succumbed to a broader risk-off sentiment. The movement of nearly $2 billion in BTC and ETH linked to Genesis Trading further exacerbated the decline.
On Friday, Bitcoin’s attempt at a modest rally during U.S. trading hours was short-lived. The price dropped 4% within about ninety minutes, mirroring a significant slump in equity markets. Despite a weak July U.S. jobs report earlier in the day, which typically drives risk assets like stocks and Bitcoin higher due to falling bond yields and a weakening dollar, this was not the case today. By midday in the U.S., the Nasdaq had fallen 3.1% and the S&P 500 by 2.7%, with Amazon (AMZN) plummeting 11% post-earnings and Nvidia (NVDA) dropping 5%. The Volatility Index (VIX) surged by an astounding 54%.
Bitcoin managed to climb above $65,000 briefly but soon fell back to $62,900 at press time, marking a nearly 2% decline over the past 24 hours. The broader CoinDesk 20 Index suffered even more, dropping just shy of 3%. Leading the decline were ether (ETH), solana (SOL), uniswap (UNI), and chainlink (LINK), each falling by 4%-5%.
Setting a grim tone even before the U.S. jobs report was a continued selloff in Japan, where the Nikkei dropped 5.8% on Friday following a more than 4% decline the previous day. The selloff seems to be a response to the Bank of Japan’s minor monetary tightening action on Wednesday, which saw the benchmark lending rate rise to 0.25% from a previous range of 0%-0.1%.
The bearish sentiment was compounded by the movement of 16,600 bitcoin (approximately $1.1 billion) and 166,300 ether (roughly $521 million) from wallets associated with the bankrupt Genesis Trading. According to Arkham Intelligence, these transfers are likely in-kind repayments to creditors. One creditor even took to X to announce receiving a modest distribution from the Genesis estate.
As the market digests these developments, Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies face significant pressure, reflecting broader market uncertainties and specific industry challenges.
Author Bio
Sarah Wilson – Author and Content Writer at AiBlock Insider
[…] anxiety was further reflected in significant outflows from cryptocurrency investment products. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs saw $237.5 million in withdrawals on Friday, the highest since May 1, while ether ETFs experienced […]