Bitcoin slides to $72K, extending selloff and dragging crypto stocks lower

Bitcoin fell to around $72,000 on Wednesday, marking its lowest level of the year as selling pressure across digital assets intensified. The move deepens a downtrend that has been in place since mid-January, when Bitcoin peaked near $96,000.

The selloff weighed broadly on crypto-linked equities, though the steep drop in Strategy shares stood out given the company’s position as the largest corporate holder of bitcoin. With roughly 713,000 bitcoin acquired at an average price near $76,000, the slide to $72,000 leaves the company facing sizable unrealized losses on its treasury.

At current prices, the position implies an unrealized loss of about $2.9 billion. Shares of Strategy fell about 9% on the day, sliding to around $121.9, a level last seen in September 2024.

Coinbase fell roughly 8%, while Robinhood dropped around 10% as investors reduced exposure to crypto-sensitive names. Mining stocks were among the hardest hit, with Cipher Mining off roughly 21%, Iren down about 18%, and Hut 8 sliding about 14%.

Marathon Digital and Riot Platforms each fell around 11%. Ethereum treasury-focused companies also came under pressure, with BitMine down about 10% and SharpLink Gaming off roughly 8%.

The broader crypto market continued to soften, with total market capitalization slipping about 3% to roughly $2.5 trillion. Ether traded near $2,100, Solana hovered around $90, and XRP fell to about $1.51.

Weakness in digital assets came alongside a pullback in broader risk markets. The S&P 500 fell about 1%, while the Nasdaq dropped close to 2%. Gold eased around 1% and silver fell about 0.3%.

Market stress was evident in derivatives data, with more than $120 million in crypto positions liquidated in recent hours and over $860 million wiped out over the past 24 hours.