Bitcoin and Ether posted their steepest weekly declines since the 2022 FTX collapse as the broader crypto market shed roughly $390 billion in value. The selloff followed a strong U.S. jobs report and mounting concerns over interest rates and competition from AI investments.
Bitcoin traded around $61,000 on Saturday after briefly dipping below $60,000 overnight. The leading cryptocurrency fell 17.3% for the week while Ether dropped 22%, according to market data. The digital asset sector lost about $390 billion in market value during the period, with total capitalization hovering just above $2 trillion. Roughly $7 billion in leveraged positions were liquidated over the week, including $1.6 billion in the latest 24-hour period. Strategy disclosed the sale of 32 Bitcoin for about $2.5 million early in the week, its first such transaction in nearly four years. Heavy outflows from Bitcoin ETFs and investor rotation toward AI-related assets added pressure. Friday's stronger-than-expected U.S. jobs report prompted markets to price in higher interest rates, pushing Treasury yields higher and triggering a broad risk-asset selloff that extended into crypto.
