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Bitcoin Had A Brutal Dip To $74,500. Here’s What’s Happening

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Bitcoin Had A Brutal Dip To $74,500. Here’s What’s Happening

Bitcoin is stabilizing slightly today after one of its most punishing weeks in years, but the damage across crypto markets has already been done.

The bitcoin price fell below $80,000 over the weekend for the first time since April 2025, briefly plunging to lows near $75,000 amid cascading liquidations and a broader sell-off across global risk assets. 

As of early Monday, BTC was trading around $78,400, up about 1% on the day, according to Bitcoin Magazine data, after shedding roughly 12% over the past seven days.

That decline has erased more than $200 billion from bitcoin’s market capitalization, capping a brutal stretch that saw the asset lose roughly $800 billion in value since peaking above $126,000 in October.

Market participants point to a convergence of macroeconomic stress, geopolitical risk and structural fragility in crypto markets as the primary drivers of the sell-off.

Bitcoin’s drop coincided with a sharp “risk-off” move across global markets. U.S. equities slid late last week, led by steep losses in technology stocks after Microsoft’s earnings disappointed investors. That weakness spilled into European and Asian markets on Monday, while traditional safe havens also came under pressure.

Gold and silver both suffered historic losses, with silver posting its worst single-day decline since 1980. Analysts say the simultaneous sell-off in crypto and precious metals reflects a surging U.S. dollar and shifting expectations around U.S. monetary policy following the nomination of Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair.

Thin liquidity over the weekend exacerbated price swings, triggering a wave of forced liquidations across derivatives markets. 

According to Coinglass, more than $2 billion worth of BTC long and short positions have been liquidated since Thursday, including $2.56 billion across all cryptocurrencies on Saturday alone — one of the largest single-day liquidation events on record.

Liquidations occur when leveraged traders are automatically forced out of positions as prices fall, creating a feedback loop of selling pressure that can accelerate declines.

Institutional investors have also been pulling back. Digital asset investment products recorded a second consecutive week of outflows totaling $1.7 billion, according to CoinShares, wiping out all year-to-date inflows and pushing 2026 flows into negative territory. 

Bitcoin and Ethereum products led the withdrawals, while short BTC products and tokenized precious metals saw inflows, suggesting rising demand for downside protection.

Bitcoin whale activity 

Earlier today, Binance confirmed it purchased 1,315 bitcoin, worth roughly $100 million, as part of a plan to convert its $1 billion Secure Asset Fund for Users (SAFU) reserve from stablecoins into BTC over the next 30 days. 

Binance cofounder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said he had lost confidence in a 2026 BTC “super cycle,” citing intense FUD, market turbulence, and accusations that Binance-related events contributed to a historic liquidation cascade. 

Members of the crypto community accused CZ of selling BTC over the weekend and accused him of being responsible for the massive October 10, 2025 crypto crash that led to large crypto liquidations. 

Corporate bitcoin holders have also come under scrutiny. Bitcoin’s brief dip below Strategy’s average purchase price put the company’s massive treasury holdings under pressure, though analysts say there is no risk of forced selling because the BTC is not pledged as collateral.

Bitcoin’s drop below Strategy’s $76,052 cost basis somewhat erased the psychological floor beneath Michael Saylor’s leveraged accumulation strategy, exposing growing strain as the firm’s stock trades far below its peak and its equity premium vanishes. 

While there’s no immediate financial distress and no forced selling risk, tightening capital markets and fading investor appetite are shrinking Strategy’s ability to fund further Bitcoin purchases through share issuance.

At the time of writing, BTC is rebounding to around $78,380, up 1% over the past 24 hours, trading just below its seven-day high as market capitalization climbs to roughly $1.57 trillion.

Billionaire Crypto Founder Comes Under Fire: Why TRON’s Justin Sun Is Trending

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Billionaire Crypto Founder Comes Under Fire: Why TRON’s Justin Sun Is Trending

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Billionaire crypto founder Justin Sun has come under fire following accusations of insider trading. The TRON founder is said to have devised means to manipulate TRX’s price during the 2017 bull run. 

TRON Founder Justin Sun Accused Of Insider Trading

In an X post, finance expert Tenten alleged that Justin Sun used the identities of multiple of his employees based in Beijing to operate accounts on the Binance exchange, which he used to manipulate TRX’s market cap. Tenten further stated that the crypto founder carried out aggressive and large-scale sales at the end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018. 

She also alleged that this insider trading and “predatory practices” involving the TRX token on Binance were how Justin Sun amassed his wealth. Meanwhile, Tenten claimed that she had been in a relationship with the TRON founder in the early stages of his network’s development, which is how she got this information.   

Tenten was commenting on a report that highlighted the SEC’s allegations against Justin Sun of fraud and wash trading. She stated that she has evidence showing that the TRON founder indeed used employees’ identities to artificially inflate the TRX price on Binance. She added that she is willing to fully cooperate with an SEC investigation and to submit all relevant WeChat records. 

The finance expert stated that the crypto founder’s employees were the ones who provided her with these chats, which prove that he was involved in market manipulation. She requested that the U.S. authorities contact her so that she can forward this information. It is worth noting that the SEC has halted the case against the TRON founder, though it has not yet been dismissed. 

Interestingly, her allegations follow the letter that House Democrats sent to the SEC about a “Pay-to-Play” in how it has handled Justin Sun’s case since the crypto founder invested in the Trump-linked World Liberty Financial (WLFI). 

“Ignore The FUD”

Justin Sun has yet to openly address these allegations. However, following Tenten’s statements, he urged the TRON community to ignore the FUD and keep building and holding. In another X post, he highlighted how TRX is holding up well despite the crypto market crash. Meanwhile, Tenten has made further allegations, including that the crypto founder tried to defame her. 

In an X post, she claimed that, in response to her initial allegations, Justin Sun has disseminated a large amount of false, malicious, and defamatory content targeting her. According to her, the TRON founder did this through Chinese crypto KOLs, with whom he has a long-term relationship. 

She also accused these KOLs of being involved in market manipulation, stating that they usually work with crypto projects to make calls about their tokens. Then the team dumps the tokens after retail investors buy into it.

At the time of writing, the TRX price is trading at around $0.2821, down in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

TRON
TRX trading at $0.28 on the 1D chart | Source: TRXUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com

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HIP-4 proposal will add outcome-based trading to platform

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HIP-4 proposal will add outcome-based trading to platform

Hyperliquid’s token, HYPE, climbed 10% over the past 24 hours after the decentralized exchange detailed HIP-4, a proposal to bring “outcome” trading to its platform.

The new contract type would support prediction markets and options-style derivatives, both long-requested features, according to the team.

“There has been extensive user demand in both of these areas, and builders will likely think of novel applications as well,” Hyperliquid wrote in a post on X.

Outcomes are fully collateralized contracts that settle at a fixed price within a specified range. They introduce dated markets and non-linear payoffs to Hyperliquid’s system, which until now has focused on perpetual futures. Unlike traditional leveraged derivatives, outcomes do not require margin trading or risk liquidations.

Outcome trading will launch on testnet first, with mainnet deployment to follow once technical development is complete. Hyperliquid plans to start with a curated set of markets before potentially opening the system to permissionless listings, pending user feedback, it said.

HYPE gained traction over the past month after the exchange’s permissionless markets, which allow anyone to create markets on assets like crypto, stocks, and gold by staking 500,000 HYPE tokens, have exploded to record highs. The token is up 33% over the past month.

Earnings season gathers steam, U.S. jobs: Crypto Week Ahead

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Earnings season gathers steam, U.S. jobs: Crypto Week Ahead

Crypto company earnings season ramps up with reports due from Strategy (MSTR), which holds the largest number of bitcoin BTC$77,528.46 among publicly listed companies, and Galaxy Digital (GLXY), a digital assets and infrastructure investor. Bullish (BLSH), which owns Bullish Exchange and CoinDesk, is also due to release figures.

While interest-rates decisions are due in Europe, with both the Bank of England and European Central Bank making announcements on Thursday, the macroeconomic environment will be focused on Friday’s U.S. employment situation summary for January, including the key nonfarm payrolls figure.

What to Watch

(All times ET)

  • Crypto
  • Macro
    • Feb. 2: Canada S&P Global Manufacturing PMI for January (Prev. 48.6)
    • Feb. 2, 10 a.m.: U.S. ISM Manufacturing PMI for January (Prev. 47.9)
    • Feb. 3, 10 a.m.: U.S. JOLTs job openings for December (Prev. 7.146M)
    • Feb. 4, 7 a.m.: U.S. MBA 30-year mortgage rate for week ending Jan. 30 (Prev. 6.24%)
    • Feb. 4, 10 a.m.: U.S. ISM Services PMI for January (Prev. 54.4)
    • Feb. 5, 7 a.m.: Bank of England interest-rate decision. Est. 3.75% (Prev. 3.75%)
    • Feb. 5, 8:15 a.m.: European Central Bank interest-rate decision (Prev. 2.15%)
    • Feb. 5, 2 p.m.: Mexico interest-rate decision (Prev. 7%)
    • Feb, 5, 4:30 p.m.: Fed balance sheet for the period ending Feb. 4
    • Feb. 6, 8:30 a.m.: Canada unemployment rate for January (Prev. 6.8%)
    • Feb. 6, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. nonfarm payrolls for January (Prev. 50K)
    • Feb. 6, 8:30 a.m.: U.S. unemployment rate for January (Prev. 4.4%)
    • Feb. 6, 10 a.m.: Canada Ivey PMI index for January (Prev. 51.9)
    • Feb. 6, 10 a.m.: U.S. Michigan Consumer Sentiment preliminary for February (Prev. 56.4); Michigan inflation expectations (Prev. 4%)
  • Earnings (Estimates based on FactSet data)
    • Feb. 3: Galaxy Digital (GLXY), pre-market, -$0.95
    • Feb. 5: Bullish (BLSH), pre-market, $0.14
    • Feb. 5: Strategy (MSTR), post-market, -$15.04
    • Feb. 5: IREN Limited (IREN), post-market, -$0.18
    • Feb. 6: CleanSpark (CLSK), post-market, $0.09

Token Events

  • Governance votes & calls
    • CoW DAO is voting to renew team grants via a 5% base allocation and up to 10% in performance incentives linked to revenue milestones. Voting ends Feb. 2.
    • BNB Chain is voting on a proposal to adjust five system parameters to align with the forthcoming Fermi hard fork and its faster 0.45-second block interval. Voting ends Feb. 2.
    • ENS DAO is voting to fund a $125k independent retrospective led by Metagov. The project will analyze past spending and governance effectiveness to create an evidence-based roadmap for the DAO’s future. Voting ends Feb. 2.
    • GnosisDAO is voting to enable ranked choice voting for governance proposals. This change allows the community to select from multiple options in an instant-runoff system. Voting ends Feb. 2.
    • Feb. 3: Lido to host a community call on the Lido V3 mainnet launch.
    • Feb. 3: Axie Infinity to host a Lunacian Lounge.
    • Feb. 4: Stacks to host a townhall meeting.
    • Feb. 5: Olympus to host a community call with a live Q&A session.
  • Unlocks
    • Jan. 30: KMNO$0.03433 to unlock 3.68% of its circulating supply worth $11.22 million.
    • Feb. 1: SUI$1.1209 to unlock 1.15% of its circulating supply worth $65.29 million.
    • Feb. 1: EigenLayer (EIGEN) to unlock 8.88% of its circulating supply worth $12.53 million.
    • Feb. 5: XDC$0.03806 to unlock 5% of its circulating supply worth $31.52 million.
    • Feb. 5: ENA$0.1383 to unlock 2.31% of its circulating supply worth $26.46 million.
    • Feb. 6: Hyperliquid HYPE$32.07 to unlock 2.79% of its circulating supply worth $287.68 million.
    • Feb. 6: BERA$0.4677 to unlock 41.7% of its circulating supply worth $38.33 million.
  • Token Launches
    • Feb. 3: Conflux (CFX) to be listed on Kraken.
    • Feb. 3: Usualx’s unlock window closes.
    • Feb. 4: THORChain Solana mainnet is expected to launch.

Conferences

BitMine $7B Paper Loss, Crypto Crash Pressures ETH Treasuries

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BitMine $7B Paper Loss, Crypto Crash Pressures ETH Treasuries

Corporate Ether treasury companies are facing significant paper losses on their holdings after the latest market correction pulled many underwater.

BitMine Immersion Technologies, the largest corporate Ether (ETH) holder, is sitting on $6.95 billion in unrealized losses. Its Ether holdings were acquired at an average price of $3,883 per token, significantly higher than the current $2,240 ETH price. 

SharpLink Gaming, the second-largest Ether treasury firm, is facing $1.09 billion in paper losses, after Ether’s price fell below its average cost basis of $3,609, according to the company’s dashboard.

The mounting unrealized losses may test the conviction of Ether treasury companies, making it increasingly difficult to raise funds, as Ether’s correction is leading to a decline in Market Net Asset Value (MNAV). BitMine’s mNAV sank to 1, while SharpLink’s mNAV fell to 0.92. 

The mNAV ratio compares a company’s enterprise value to the value of its crypto holdings. An mNAV below 1 makes it more challenging for companies to raise funds by issuing new shares, which may limit their cryptocurrency purchases.

ETH price, BMNR purchases. Source: Bitminetracker.io

The dynamic may lead to a “brutal pruning” among crypto treasury firms in 2026, when only the best-capitalized players will survive, predicted asset manager Pantera Capital.

Related: BitMine to invest $200M in YouTuber MrBeast’s Beast Industries

Despite the concerns, Ether’s current decline remains in line with analysis from Tom Lee, the chairman of BitMine and the co-founder of Fundstrat Global Advisors.

Lee predicted an Ether drawdown to around $1,800 in the first quarter of 2026, before crypto markets would find their footing and rally into year-end, Cointelegraph reported in December.

On Dec. 21, screenshots emerged of an internal research note from Lee predicting future swings. Source: AlejandroBTC

Related: Sharplink pockets $33M from Ether staking, deploys another $170M ETH

Trend Research sells $79 million Ether at a loss

The latest crypto market downturn already pressured some treasury companies to start unwinding their bets.

On Monday, Hong Kong-based investment firm Trend Research closed its leveraged positions by selling 33,589 Ether worth $79 million at a loss.

Trend Research borrowed an additional $77.5 million in USDt (USDT) from Binance to repay its loan. The company lowered its ETH borrowing liquidation level from $1,880 to $1,830, according to blockchain data shared by EmberCN.

Data shows Trend Research borrowing Tether from Binance. Source: EmberCN

Trend Research still holds a long position worth 618,000 Ether (valued at $1.43 billion at time of writing,) but faces an unrealized loss of over $534 million.

Jack Yi, the founder of Trend Research, said the investment firm will await the market recovery while keeping risk under control.

“After selling out at the top, being too early to go bullish on ETH was indeed a mistake. Because when BTC was around 100k, ETH kept staying at 3000, and we thought it was undervalued,” he added in a Monday X post.

ETH/USD, one-day chart, token God mode. Source: Nansen

Meanwhile, the industry’s leading traders by returns, tracked as “smart money,” are accumulating spot Ether tokens during the market downturn.

During the past week, smart money traders acquired $38.3 million worth of spot ETH tokens, while whales acquired $5.47 million and fresh wallets bought $31 million, according to crypto intelligence platform Nansen.

Magazine: Sharplink exec shocked by level of BTC and ETH ETF hodling — Joseph Chalom