Amid recent record-breaking rallies in many global markets, one type of investment once beloved by speculators has been left far behind: Bitcoin.
On Wednesday, the world's largest cryptocurrency fell for a fourth consecutive trading session.
As of 9:30 AM Beijing Time on Thursday, the trading price of Bitcoin had broken below the $63,000 mark.
Year-to-date, Bitcoin has declined by more than 28%, and compared to its all-time peak above $126,000 reached in early October last year, its price has been halved.
According to data compiled by CoinGlass, as a "crypto winter" fully descends, liquidations within the crypto space over the past 24 hours have reached $1.2 billion.
Since the acceleration of this round of Bitcoin's sharp decline in early June, this forced deleveraging, where cryptocurrency exchanges automatically liquidate high-risk trades, has reached its highest scale since February.
It is worth noting that over the past few months, after plummeting from its highs, Bitcoin had actually been stabilizing within a relatively narrow trading range.
However, some of Bitcoin's staunchest former supporters have recently changed their minds, dealing a "fatal blow" to confidence in the crypto space.
Michael Saylor, Executive Chairman of MicroStrategy, was famous in crypto circles for his mantra of "never selling Bitcoin." Yet the company stated on Monday that it sold 32 bitcoins last week, realizing a profit of approximately $2.5 million, and plans to use the proceeds for preferred stock dividends.
The following day, June 2nd, the price of Bitcoin fell below $70,000 for the first time since early April.
This unexpected selling by MicroStrategy has left many investors and analysts concerned about whether the market faces further downward pressure.
Further sales by the company could potentially trigger a steep drop in Bitcoin's price.
"This shift by MicroStrategy might just be the beginning," said Joshua Lim, Co-Head of Global Markets at cryptocurrency trading firm FalconX.
"Most Bitcoin buyers will likely stay on the sidelines until some major unresolved catalysts fade over the summer."
The AI Wave and Mega IPOs Are Drawing Capital Away
In fact, the selling by crypto giants is only a surface-level crisis. The deeper current predicament for Bitcoin lies in the red-hot AI wave and the successive launch of mega IPOs in the US stock market, which may be continuously drawing capital away from the crypto space.
Bitcoin's recent decline stands in stark contrast to its historical correlation with tech stocks—this digital currency has traditionally moved in sync with risk assets.
However, unlike the bleak situation in crypto, the recent surge in tech stocks has pushed the S&P 500 to new highs earlier this week.
The Nasdaq 100 Index has risen over 40% in the past 12 months, while Bitcoin has fallen 37%.
Many industry insiders note that many retail traders who once fueled the most frenzied bull runs in cryptocurrencies now seem captivated by the AI stock frenzy.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index—which includes high-growth stocks like NVIDIA, Intel, and Micron—recorded its strongest performance in the first 100 trading days of a year on record last week.
Looking at fund flows, many Bitcoin ETF investors are also currently exiting.
According to ETF research analyst James Seyffart, the more than ten spot Bitcoin ETFs launched in 2024 by Wall Street firms like BlackRock and Fidelity have seen net outflows for 12 consecutive days, totaling approximately $4 billion.
"It's been mostly sideways since October, but this is the first real Bitcoin bear market we've witnessed since the ETFs launched," Seyffart said.
"We have been moving some funds out of Bitcoin and digital assets into AI stocks," said Carney Mak, a partner at FXHB Asset Management.
"The risk-reward profile for AI-themed stocks is currently more attractive compared to digital assets, prompting some investors to adjust their portfolio allocations."
Jake Ostrovskis, Head of OTC Trading at crypto trading firm Wintermute, stated, "To get people interested in crypto and Bitcoin again, the AI hype might need to cool off a bit."
However, as investors prepare for a series of blockbuster IPOs—led by Elon Musk's rocket company SpaceX and AI startup giants Anthropic and OpenAI—the new tech darlings in the US are likely to continue holding the market spotlight.
Quantitative trading firm QCP, focused on cryptocurrencies, stated that Bitcoin's fundamental issue currently is a liquidity rotation.
With the stock market persistently outperforming, the attention of both crypto-native investors and traditional asset managers is being captured by the stronger equity narrative, and investors may be shifting funds from Bitcoin into private markets or upcoming IPOs like SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
While some die-hard Bitcoin supporters still hold hope that the potential passage of the US crypto bill, the Clarity Act—which would establish a regulatory framework for all digital assets—could unlock a new wave of institutional capital for crypto and lift Bitcoin out of its slump.
Skeptics, however, question whether the bill could trigger significant price increases, noting that the regulatory environment during the Trump administration was already quite friendly towards cryptocurrencies.
"When people are just chasing everything else, it's very difficult to find a strong enough catalyst to turn the market around," Ostrovskis said.
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