sábado, 7 de fevereiro de 2026
Bitcoin Crashes To Around $60,000 As Historic Free Fall Worsens—Price Is Down Over 50% In 4 Months
Breaking
Business
Bitcoin
Crashes To Around $60,000 As Historic Free Fall Worsens—Price Is Down Over 50%
In 4 Months
By Antonio Pequeño IV,Forbes Staff.
Pequeño is a breaking news reporter who covers tech and more.
Feb 05,
2026, 07:33pm EST
Topline
Bitcoin’s
deep losses accelerated Thursday as the cryptocurrency fell 17% to plummet to
around the $60,000 mark by the evening, continuing a historically bad stretch
for the world’s most valuable digital asset.
Key Facts
Bitcoin
fell below the $70,000 mark for the first time in over a year around 6:30 a.m.
EST, but losses worsened throughout the day.
The
losses pushed bitcoin below the $65,000 figure shortly after 3 p.m. EST, and it
was trading as low as around $60,256 at 7:21 p.m. EST, according to CoinGecko.
The price
had slightly recovered—to just over $61,000—as of just after 7:30 p.m. EST.
These
prices have not been recorded for the cryptocurrency since October 2024.
Bitcoin
has fallen more than 50% from its all-time high of $126,080, which was reached
just under four months ago, on Oct. 6, 2025.
Why Is
Bitcoin Falling?
Bitcoin
prices began faltering in mid-January amid geopolitical instability informed by
the U.S.’ capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and President Donald
Trump’s threats to take control of Greenland. Investors scrambled for assets
with more security, sending gold and silver prices surging to historic highs.
Trump’s nomination of Kevin Warsh for chair of the Federal Reserve has also
contributed to the bitcoin falloff, according to experts, despite Warsh’s
positive view on the cryptocurrency. Deutsche Bank analysts Marion Laboure and
Camilla Siazon attributed the slide to “massive withdrawals from institutional
ETFs,” which are collections of diversified assets that can be invested and
sold quickly on a stock exchange. The bitcoin tumble also comes amid a tech
stock sell-off, which has sent the Nasdaq down 4.8% in the last week of
trading.
Tangent
Trading
platforms, the performance of which are largely linked to the state of
cryptocurrency, also felt the pain alongside bitcoin on Thursday. Robinhood
shares fell 10% on Thursday to $72.68 and are now down 36% on the year.
Coinbase shares, which started the year around the $236 mark, fell 13% on
Thursday to $146.12.
Key
Background
While the
ongoing crash worsens, bitcoin finds itself in a familiar stint of volatility
seen in years past. The cryptocurrency reached a then-high near $69,000 in
November 2021 and, over the course of the next year, tanked around 78% to below
$16,000. Bitcoin surged in 2025 following the election of Trump, who ran on a
pro-crypto platform the year prior. Trump established a government bitcoin
reserve in March and pulled back on cryptocurrency enforcement. Bitcoin’s fall
comes as Trump has championed an aggressive foreign policy backed by sweeping
tariffs and the threat of military intervention in countries like Colombia and
Greenland. The Trump administration has a framework agreement on Greenland, but
it is not clear whether that involves ownership the president is seeking, which
has threatened to break decades-long agreements the U.S. has with members of
the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Bitcoin Crashes Below $70,000 as Collapse of Crypto Continues
Bitcoin
Crashes Below $70,000 as Collapse of Crypto Continues
As of
February 7, 2026, Bitcoin (BTC) has indeed fallen below the critical $70,000
psychological threshold, recently touching lows near $60,000 before seeing
volatile attempts at recovery. This sharp downturn has wiped out all gains made
since the November 2024 U.S. presidential election, following an all-time high
of $126,080 set in October 2025.
The crash
has been driven by a combination of aggressive deleveraging, with over $950
million in crypto positions liquidated within a single 24-hour window, and
shifting institutional sentiment as Bitcoin ETFs recorded significant outflows.
Market sentiment has plunged to "Extreme Fear," with the Fear &
Greed Index hitting a rare low of 6.
Key
Market Insights
Widespread
Liquidations: The slide below $70,000 triggered a cascade of forced selling. On
February 5, 2026, roughly $790 million in long positions were liquidated.
Institutional
Shift: Formerly a major driver of the 2025 rally, institutional demand has
reversed; Bitcoin ETFs are currently net sellers in 2026.
Geopolitical
Stress: Rising global tensions and macroeconomic uncertainty have pushed
investors toward traditional safe havens like gold and silver, while Bitcoin
failed to capture defensive inflows.
Technical
Breakdown: Bitcoin has decisively broken below its 200-day Moving Average
(DMA), shifting its technical profile from neutral to bearish for the first
time since early 2022.
Analyst
Outlook for 2026
While
short-term sentiment is bearish, long-term projections remain divided:
Bearish
Targets: Some analysts warn of a deeper correction toward $38,000 or even
$35,000 if historical drawdown patterns repeat.
Bullish
Rebounds: Others suggest this "crypto winter" is a necessary
deleveraging event, with price targets of $120,000 to $170,000 still possible
in the second half of 2026 supported by potential rate cuts.
France against Musk
France
against Musk
In early
February 2026, tensions between France and Elon Musk reached a boiling point
following a series of aggressive legal actions against his social media
platform, X, and its AI chatbot, Grok.
1. Raid
on X's Paris Offices (February 3, 2026)
French
police and the Paris prosecutor's cybercrime unit, supported by Europol, raided
X's headquarters in Paris. This action was part of a major investigation into
several criminal allegations:
Child
Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM): Alleged "complicity" in the possession
and organized distribution of images depicting minors of a pornographic nature.
Sexual
Deepfakes: Violation of image rights through the production of nonconsensual
sexually explicit deepfakes, reportedly generated via Grok.
Holocaust
Denial: Investigation into the denial of crimes against humanity, specifically
Grok-generated posts questioning the use of gas chambers at Auschwitz.
Algorithmic
Manipulation: Suspected "abuse of algorithms" and "fraudulent
data extraction" aimed at influencing political opinion or foreign
interference.
2.
Summons for Questioning
Paris
prosecutors have formally summoned Elon Musk and former X CEO Linda Yaccarino
to appear for "voluntary hearings" on April 20, 2026. They are being
called as "de facto and de jure managers" of the platform during the
alleged events.
3. Musk's
Response
Musk and
the X leadership have condemned the actions as a "political attack"
and a "political vendetta against Americans".
Free
Speech Argument: X's Global Government Affairs team claimed the raid was
"law enforcement theater" designed to suppress free speech.
Political
Interference: Musk suggested the investigation is a response to his vocal
backing of certain European political factions, such as the AfD in Germany.
4.
Broader Context
Tech
Regulation Clash: This raid represents a "tipping point" in the
showdown between the U.S. hands-off approach to social media and Europe's
strict Digital Services Act (DSA) and criminal laws.
Telegram
Parallel: Commentators have noted parallels with the 2024 arrest of Telegram
founder Pavel Durov in France over similar moderation lapses.
EU Fines:
Prior to the raid, X was fined €120 million by the EU for breaching platform
rules, prompting Musk to call for the abolition of the EU.
