Cryptocurrencies fell broadly on Thursday, with Bitcoin (BTC-USD) retreating below the $90,000 threshold, signaling renewed market jitters as fresh concerns over AI profitability weighed on tech stocks.
The downturn followed disappointing revenue and profit forecasts from U.S. cloud computing giant Oracle, whose management indicated plans to ramp up spending. This suggested that returns from AI infrastructure investments are materializing slower than investors anticipated, weakening overall risk sentiment.
Bitcoin was last down 2.5% at $90,056.24, while Ethereum plunged 4.3% to $3,196.62, erasing all gains from the past two days and extending losses that began during U.S. trading hours after the Federal Reserve's rate cut on Wednesday.
Asian equities broadly declined, while European and U.S. index futures pointed to lower openings in both regions.
Tony Sycamore, a market analyst at IG in Sydney, noted, "Last night, we saw cryptocurrencies failing to keep pace with the broader risk asset rally. The crypto space desperately needs concrete evidence that the market clearing from the October 10 sell-off is over—but so far, no such signal has emerged."
Standard Chartered revised its Bitcoin price forecast downward on Tuesday, slashing its year-end 2025 target from $200,000 to $100,000.
Geoff Kendrick, the bank’s Global Head of Digital Assets Research, stated, "We believe purchases by Bitcoin reserve companies have likely peaked. As a result, we now expect future price gains to rely solely on a single driver—buying pressure from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs)."
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