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BTC slips toward $65,000 amid U.S. stock rout

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Bitcoin’s very modest rebound from its steep overnight selloff quickly fizzled out during U.S. morning trading on Monday as broader risk markets turned sharply lower.

Trading at $65,400 near the noon hour on the east coast, bitcoin was down 35% over the past 24 hours.

The action occurred as U.S. equities tumbled. The S&P 500 and the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 were each lower by more than 1%, led by renewed weakness in software stocks and private-equity names.

The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) sank another 5% to a fresh 52-week low and is now down nearly 35% since October amid concerns that generative AI tools could disrupt traditional software business models. Whether true or not, current market thinking is that crypto is just software, and price movements of bitcoin and IGV of late have been nearly perfectly correlated.

Adding to that bearish theme are continuing worries that AI could be leading markets to the cusp of a major negative credit event similar to that of 2008’s global financial crisis. This is currently reflected in private equity share prices. These companies have heavy exposure to the afore-mentioned software sector. Blow Owl Capital (OWL) — which last week sold assets in an attempt to mollify liquidity-seeking investors — is lower by another 3.5% Monday and 32% year-to-date. BlackStone (BX), Ares Management (ARES), and Apollo Global Management (APO) all added to their sizable recent losses, falling between 6% and 8%.

Crypto often trades as a high-beta proxy for tech and broader liquidity conditions, and Monday’s weakness reflected that dynamic. While BTC has so far held above the worst of its early February lows, it still trades in a tight range between $60,000 and $70,000 as risk appetite remains fragile.

Added to all of this is uncertainty about global tariffs after the Supreme Court clamped down on President Trump’s previous use of sweeping levies, Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group, said in a note.

“This sparked a classic risk-off environment,” Kruger said. “Investors pulled back from speculative assets like crypto, with bitcoin behaving more like a high-beta risk play than ‘digital gold.'”

Bitmine Faces $8.8B Paper Loss, Threatening ‘Cyclical Downturn’ for Ether

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Corporate Ether treasuries are coming under increasing pressure as the crypto downturn deepens, with analysts warning the market is approaching a make-or-break phase for Ether’s investment case.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, one of the biggest corporate holders of Ether (ETH), is sitting on a large unrealized loss as ETH trades well below the company’s average acquisition price, according to third-party tracker Bitminetracker. Some estimates put Bitmine’s paper losses in the $8.8 billion range after Ether’s slide over recent months.

ETH’s price has fallen 60% during the past six months, dropping well below Bitmine’s average cost basis of $3,843 per token, Bitminetracker data shows.

Crypto research outlet 10x Research said Monday that Ether is now trading near valuation and cost-basis levels that test whether the asset is simply in a cyclical downturn or entering a period of deeper, structural weakness.

 “Investors must therefore assess carefully whether the asset is simply in a cyclical downturn or entering a phase of deeper structural impairment.”

Bitmine continues to buy ETH despite the mounting paper losses. Last week, Bitmine acquired 45,749 Ether at an average aggregate cost basis of $1,992 per ETH, signaling confidence from the world’s largest Ether treasury firm.

Source: 10x Research

Big Wall Street participants are maintaining exposure to Bitmine despite the market downturn.

The top 11 Bitmine shareholders, including Morgan Stanley, Ark Investment Management and asset manager BlackRock, have all increased their exposure to the treasury company during the fourth quarter of 2025.

Bitmine’s stock price has fallen by about 59% over the past six months and traded at $19.68 in the pre-market on Monday, data from Google Finance showed.

Related: Wells Fargo sees ‘YOLO’ trade driving $150B into Bitcoin and risk assets

Corporate Ether holders face mounting losses amid downtrend

Other leading Ether treasury companies have also felt the pressure from the crypto market downturn.

SharpLink Gaming, the second-largest Ether treasury firm, is currently facing a $1.4 billion paper loss, as ETH trades below its average cost basis of $3,609, according to the company’s dashboard.

ShaprLink Gaming, ETH holdings, cost basis and staking rewards. Source: Sharplink

The Ether Machine, the third-largest corporate holder, is nearing $948 million in unrealized losses, as it acquired its 496,712 Ether holdings currently worth $950 million at an average price of $3,788, according to CoinGecko.

Related: Wall Street boosts Bitmine stakes as DeFi lenders buckle on liquidity: Finance Redefined

Smart money shorts ETH for $67 million as whales step up spot investments

The leading crypto traders by returns, tracked as “smart money,” continue betting on Ether’s decline.

Smart money traders added $1.48 million worth of short positions during the past 24 hours and were net short on Ether for $67 million, according to crypto intelligence platform Nansen.

Smart money traders, top traded tokens and net positioning on Hyperliquid exchange. Source: Nansen

Still, whales, or big cryptocurrency investors, have increased their spot Ether accumulation pace by over sixfold during the past week, as this cohort acquired $44 million in spot ETH across 41 wallets, according to Nansen.

Fresh wallets created in the past 15 days have also bought $245 million worth of spot Ether tokens, potentially signaling that new crypto market entrants are net buyers.

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