Bitcoin tumbles back near last week's lows as AI fears crush tech and precious metals plunge

Bitcoin BTC$65,431.20 fell back toward last week's lows, giving up nearly all of its recent gains above $70,000 and resuming its slide alongside weakness in the broader tech sector, as the crypto now trades back around $65,000.

Bitcoin was down 2% over the past 24 hours, with losses in ether ETH$1,916.07 and solana SOL$76.98 roughly tracking.

The decline mirrored broad price action in the Nasdaq, which fell 2% on Wednesday and more particularly in the software sector, where the iShares Expanded Tech-Software Sector ETF (IGV) tumbled 3%. The IGV is now down 21% year to date as investors question the sector's pricey multiples in a world where the coding abilities of artificial intelligence agents appear to be rising exponentially.

"Software stocks are struggling again today," wrote macro strategist Jim Bianco. "IGV is essentially back to last week's panic lows."

"Don't forget there's another type of software, 'programmable money,' crypto," Bianco added. "They are the same thing."

(Source: X/@biancoresearch)

Precious metals not immune

Cruising along with modest gains through most of the day, gold and silver suffered quick, steep plunges in the mid-afternoon. Late in the session, silver was lower by 10.3% to $75.08 per ounce and gold was down 3.1% to $4,938.