TLDR
- Bitcoin dropped 1.5% to $67,547 in thin holiday trading, down nearly 50% from its October record high
- Strategy holds 717,131 BTC at an average cost of $76,027 per coin, carrying a $5.7 billion paper loss
- Kevin Warsh’s Fed Chair nomination is spooking crypto markets — he’s seen as less likely to cut rates
- U.S. stock futures were flat Tuesday night ahead of Fed minutes Wednesday and PCE data Friday
- CrowdStrike and Strategy each fell over 3% as AI concerns weighed on tech stocks
Bitcoin fell 1.5% on Tuesday to $67,547, drifting lower in quiet, holiday-thinned trading. Several major global markets were closed, keeping volumes low and price moves small.
The drop is part of a much bigger slide. Bitcoin has now lost nearly 50% of its value since hitting a record high in October, and last week it came close to falling below $60,000.
One key reason for the pressure is the nomination of Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve Chair. Warsh is seen as less likely to cut interest rates aggressively, which is bad news for speculative assets like crypto. Higher rates for longer tend to pull money away from riskier bets.
Traders also moved toward safer assets like gold this week, while swings in U.S. tech stocks added more pressure to the crypto market. Bitcoin tends to track tech closely.
Strategy’s Bitcoin Bet Is Deep in the Red
Strategy, the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, now owns 717,131 BTC. The company bought those coins at an average price of $76,027 each, spending about $54.52 billion in total.
With Bitcoin near $68,000, Strategy is underwater by roughly $8,000 per coin. That adds up to an unrealized loss of around $5.7 billion across its entire position.
The company also posted a heavy loss in the fourth quarter. Some of its debt is tied to the value of its Bitcoin holdings, which has raised questions about financial risk as prices fall.
Strategy still bought more last week — 2,486 BTC for around $168.4 million — showing it has no plans to change course.
Metaplanet, a Japanese company that has also built a Bitcoin treasury, recorded a valuation loss of around 102.2 billion yen on its holdings.
Stock Futures and What’s Coming This Week
U.S. stock futures were near flat Tuesday evening. Contracts tied to the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq 100 all hovered close to the baseline after a quiet session on Wall Street.
During the regular trading day, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each gained about 0.1%. The Dow added around 32 points.
Tech stocks stayed under pressure. Strategy fell 3% and CrowdStrike dropped 3.6% as investors kept weighing how AI will reshape business models and competition.
The Fed’s January meeting minutes are due Wednesday. The bigger event comes Friday with the release of the PCE price index — the Fed’s preferred inflation measure.
Earnings from DoorDash, eBay, and Analog Devices are also due Wednesday.
In the rest of crypto, Ether edged up 0.2% to $1,994. XRP fell 0.7% to $1.47, and Cardano slipped 1.4%.
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