Bitcoin (COIN:BTCUSD) slipped on Friday, giving up recent gains as a fragile risk environment continued to weigh on sentiment. The world’s largest cryptocurrency is now on course to record a fifth consecutive month of notable losses.
The broader crypto market largely mirrored Bitcoin’s weakness, with digital assets also heading toward steep February declines as both institutional and retail investors remained cautious toward the asset class.
Bitcoin was down nearly 1% at $67,788.0 as of 00:48 ET.
Bitcoin facing fifth straight month of losses
Bitcoin has fallen roughly 14% so far in February, highlighting persistent risk aversion across crypto markets that has shown little sign of easing during the month.
Elevated geopolitical tensions, ongoing uncertainty surrounding major global economies, and concerns over potential disruptions linked to U.S. trade tariffs have discouraged investors from allocating capital to speculative assets such as cryptocurrencies.
Earlier this month, Bitcoin had dropped as much as 50% from its October record high before staging a modest rebound.
Despite that recovery, the cryptocurrency remains locked in a broader downward trend that began after October, with buying activity from major corporate holder Strategy doing little to halt the decline.
Strategy has also slowed its pace of Bitcoin accumulation in recent months amid growing concerns that continued price weakness could force the company to sell part of its holdings to service debt obligations.
MARA Holdings jumps as AI pivot overshadows weak earnings
Shares of MARA Holdings, formerly Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA), rallied sharply Thursday evening after the Bitcoin miner announced a partnership with Starwood Capital to repurpose portions of its mining infrastructure into artificial intelligence data centers.
MARA shares surged as much as 17% in after-hours trading.
The AI-related announcement overshadowed a $1.7 billion fourth-quarter loss, reflecting the impact of sustained weakness in Bitcoin prices that has significantly pressured mining profitability.
Revenue also came in below expectations. Facing declining crypto prices alongside growing enthusiasm for artificial intelligence, MARA has increasingly sought to pivot toward deploying its computing capacity for AI data center operations instead of crypto mining.
Crypto market today: altcoins lose momentum, February losses deepen
The wider cryptocurrency market declined again on Friday following a brief recovery earlier in the week, leaving many tokens on track for sizeable monthly losses.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency, fell 1.2% to $2,038.21 and was set to drop nearly 17% in February. The token faced additional pressure after founder Vitalik Buterin sold more of his holdings, reinforcing cautious market sentiment.
XRP declined 2.3% and was on pace for a roughly 15% monthly loss, while BNB traded little changed on Friday but remained down nearly 20% for the month.
Solana has fallen about 17% in February, while Cardano traded broadly flat. Among meme tokens, Dogecoin and $TRUMP were down 5.4% and 20%, respectively, over the month.
Leave a Reply