Bitcoin crashes below $95,000 as AI stock sell-off triggers a four-day crypto slide

Bitcoin’s hot streak just hit a wall. After flirting with six-figure territory earlier in the week, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency dropped below $95,000 on Friday, dragged down by the same investors retreating from high-flying AI and Big Tech names. The sell-off has now stretched into a four-day slide, reminding traders that crypto is still wired into the same risk-on circuit as Silicon Valley’s most expensive bets.

Bitcoin was last trading at $94,896.03, down 3.5% on the day. The token spent most of the week in the red, even though it briefly reclaimed $107,000 on Tuesday before rolling over again. The move caps a choppy stretch where buyers tried to push prices higher, only to get swamped by broader risk aversion.

“The digital asset was last trading at $94,896.03, down 3.5% on the day. Bitcoin was in the red most of this week, although it reclaimed $107,000 at one point on Tuesday before rolling over,” CNBC reported.

Bitcoin is trading at $96,129.63 at the time of writing, a modest rebound from earlier lows.

One reason the move feels so abrupt is that Bitcoin and AI-linked tech stocks have, in many ways, become the same trade. The largest crypto by market capitalization attracts many of the same investors that have poured funds into BigTech stocks, linking the two trades.

Several of those stocks are falling this week amid a resurfacing of concerns over Silicon Valley giants’ astronomical spending on AI initiatives. As investors start to question how long that spending can keep running ahead of clear returns, anything in the “high-growth, high-risk” bucket is taking a hit.

That pressure is already showing up in index futures. Futures tied to the Nasdaq-100 fell more than 1% before the bell on Friday, with Meta, Alphabet, Intel, Nvidia, and Tesla shedding between 1% and 5% in premarket trading. Those names have been key beneficiaries of the AI boom, and weakness there tends to ripple out into other speculative corners of the market, crypto included.

Crypto-linked stocks are feeling the chill as well. Crypto-linked stocks also fell early Thursday. Shares of the software firm and bitcoin treasury Strategy, formerly Microstrategy, dipped 6% before the bell. Trading platforms Gemini Space Station and Coinbase’s stocks shed 5%, while Bullish shares edged down 3%.

Shares of digital asset mining firm Bitmine Immersion Technologies were also trading 5% lower. For investors who thought Bitcoin had decoupled from Wall Street’s mood swings, this week has been a reminder that the connection is still very much alive.