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Bitcoin Price Crashes 9% to $69,000 As Markets Spiral Into Full Risk-Off Mode

The bitcoin price slid to $69,000 in Asian trading Thursday as a deepening selloff in global markets spilled into crypto markets. The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell as much as 9% over the past 24 hours, touching lows at $69,031 before trimming losses. 

Bitcoin price has now wiped out all gains since its previous $69,000 all-time high in 2021. BTC is now down nearly 30% over the past 12 months and about 45% below its October peak, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

The move came alongside sharp declines in Asian equities. MSCI’s Asia technology index fell for a fifth time in six sessions, while South Korea’s Kospi dropped about 4% as major AI-linked names faced renewed pressure. 

Investors have grown uneasy about the durability of the artificial intelligence investment boom that lifted tech stocks through 2025, with concerns building around stretched valuations, slowing earnings momentum, and the possibility that corporate AI spending may crest sooner than expected.

Bitcoin price sell-off

The risk-off tone spread into other markets, with silver plunging as much as 17% and gold falling more than 3%, signaling broad deleveraging across speculative and commodity-linked trades.

Bitcoin price’s decline also reflected fading institutional demand. U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of roughly $545 million on Wednesday, marking a second consecutive day of withdrawals. 

BlackRock’s IBIT led the selling with about $373 million in net outflows.

CryptoQuant research highlighted the reversal in ETF-driven demand. At this point in 2025, spot ETFs had purchased about 46,000 bitcoin on a net basis. 

In early 2026, they have instead become net sellers, reducing holdings by roughly 10,600 BTC year-to-date, creating a demand gap of about 56,000 BTC versus last year.

The decline leaves the bitcoin price down about 20% year-to-date and roughly 45% from its October peak near $126,000. Market veterans have warned that the pattern of consecutive lower highs and lower lows resembles sustained distribution rather than isolated retail panic. 

Strategy’s ($MSTR) losses and bitcoin mining difficulty 

Attention now turns to Strategy, the largest corporate holder of bitcoin, ahead of its fourth-quarter earnings report Thursday. The company holds about 713,502 BTC, and investors are watching for any changes in its balance-sheet posture. 

Strategy shares have collapsed more than 70% from their 2025 high, recently trading near $120, levels last seen in September 2024. The decline has weighed on public pension funds with exposure to the stock, with reported paper losses in the hundreds of millions.

Despite price dips, Chairman Michael Saylor has made it clear that Strategy won’t be selling its Bitcoin — and in fact is doubling down on purchases even as the market dips, signaling his intent to keep accumulating more.

Earlier this week, Strategy said it purchased 855 bitcoin for about $75.3 million, paying a bitcoin price of $87,974 per BTC, according to a Monday filing. 

Stress has also emerged in the mining sector. Bitcoin’s price near $71,000 sits below estimates of all-in production costs near $87,000, compressing margins. 

CryptoQuant data shows network hashrate has fallen about 12% from October highs, while daily mining revenue briefly dropped to $28 million. A difficulty adjustment expected on Feb. 8 could cut mining difficulty by roughly 14%, offering relief to operators still online.

U.S. government can’t ‘bail out’ bitcoin 

Yesterday, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the House Financial Services Committee that the U.S. government has no authority to “bail out” bitcoin or direct banks to buy BTC.

 Rep. Brad Sherman pressed him on whether regulators could intervene like they did during the 2008 financial crisis, but Bessent rejected the idea outright. 

He said that the government’s only bitcoin price exposure comes from law enforcement seizures, not taxpayer-funded investments. 

Per BM Pro data, Bitcoin price fell 9% over the past 24 hours to $69,402 on $101 billion in trading volume, pulling its market cap down to $1.39 trillion as it trades near its seven-day low with 19.98 million BTC in circulation.

This post Bitcoin Price Crashes 9% to $69,000 As Markets Spiral Into Full Risk-Off Mode first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.