Bitcoin staged a modest rebound during Asian trading on Friday after touching its weakest level in 16 months, but the move was not enough to offset heavy losses over the week, as a risk-off backdrop and uncertainty around U.S. monetary policy continued to pressure cryptocurrency markets.
The broader tone in crypto remained fragile after major corporate holder Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) reported a dramatically wider fourth-quarter loss on Thursday, driven largely by the fall in the value of its Bitcoin holdings.
Bitcoin was last up around 5% at $66,145 by 01:48 ET (06:48 GMT), recovering from an intraday low near $60,187. Even with the bounce, the world’s largest cryptocurrency has now shed more than half of its value from the record high reached in October and has given up all gains made since Donald Trump’s election victory in late 2024.
Bitcoin faces third straight weekly decline
Despite Friday’s recovery, Bitcoin was on track for a third consecutive weekly loss and was down close to 16% over the period.
Recent weeks have seen a broad retreat from higher-risk assets, with pressure on crypto intensifying after Trump named Kevin Warsh as his preferred candidate to lead the Federal Reserve. Warsh has previously criticised the Fed’s asset-purchase programmes, prompting concerns that monetary policy could remain tighter for longer under his leadership.
Expectations of a smaller central bank balance sheet have weighed on speculative assets, and investors have responded by cutting exposure to risk-sensitive markets. The selloff in U.S. technology shares—often closely correlated with crypto price moves—has added to the downside pressure.
Strategy’s losses deepen as Bitcoin weakens
Strategy Inc (NASDAQ:MSTR) said its fourth-quarter loss widened to $12.4 billion, compared with a loss of $670.8 million a year earlier, highlighting the impact of Bitcoin’s prolonged weakness.
The company has struggled as Bitcoin failed to regain momentum following a sharp selloff in late October, which unsettled broader markets. As of February 1, Strategy held 713,502 Bitcoins at a total cost of $54.26 billion, or an average of $76,052 per coin.
With Bitcoin trading below that average purchase price, investors have grown increasingly concerned that the company could be forced to liquidate part of its holdings to meet debt obligations. Strategy, led by long-time Bitcoin advocate Michael Saylor, has funded its accumulation largely through debt issuance and share sales.
Altcoins mirror Bitcoin but weekly losses mount
Other cryptocurrencies followed Bitcoin higher on Friday but remained under pressure on a weekly basis.
Ether rose nearly 5% to around $1,917, yet was still down roughly 22% for the week. XRP and BNB posted daily gains of about 7% and 3%, respectively, but both were nursing weekly losses of around 20%.
Solana was heading for a weekly decline of roughly 24%, while Cardano was down about 13.5%. Among meme tokens, Dogecoin was off around 13% for the week, while $TRUMP had fallen by roughly 23%.
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