Bitcoin is clearly trading in bear-market territory, as it is well below its all-time high of over $124,000. Earlier today, Bitcoin broke below $60,000. At the beginning of 2026, BTC was traded at around $88,000, so it has not been a good year for Bitcoin bulls.
Yesterday, CI reported that some Bitcoin miners may no longer be profitable, and only the most efficient miners can continue, as the cost of minting exceeds the cost of operating their server farms.
Michael Saylor, CEO of Strategy (NASDAQ:MSTR), the Bitcoin proxy firm, remains steadfast in his belief that Bitcoin will eventually get its mojo back, posting today his vision that Bitcoin “should be recognized as the dominant digital monetary network”, integrating globally within the financial services sector.
“The challenge for Bitcoin is to preserve what makes it unique while allowing it to become useful to everyone,” states Saylor.
He foresees a world where Bitcoin is foundational.
Meanwhile, some predict that Strategy will eventually bend to the crypt overlords, but so far, the company has been resolute, continuing to acquire Bitcoin periodically as it has become the largest corporate holder of BTC globally. Unfortunately, shares of Strategy have tumbled by around 24% this week, pacing the drop in Bitcoin price.
So what comes next?
Daniel Reis-Faria, CEO of ZeroStack, says investors have become cautious amid recent price weakness.
“If sentiment continues to weaken, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Bitcoin test lower levels and reach the $54,000 range. A lot of the momentum that helped push Bitcoin higher earlier this year has slowed, and investors are becoming more selective about where capital goes. When confidence weakens, crypto tends to react quickly because it remains a higher-risk asset for many investors.”
He believes this recent retrenchment does not necessarily mean the long-term outlook for Bitcoin has changed, but we are seeing weaker demand, heightened volatility, and a focus on downside risk.
“Bitcoin can move higher quickly when buying returns, but right now, investors seem more focused on managing risk than adding exposure. Until that changes, Bitcoin is likely to remain sensitive to shifts in sentiment and broader market conditions.”
Thahbib Rahman, Research Analyst at Block Scholes, sees an environment where crypto investors are moving into equities due to the IPO craze. With SpaceX on deck at a whopping $1.75 trillion valuation and Anthropic making moves to follow later this year, perhaps investors are moving money into another speculative play.
“…risk-sentiment across crypto majors has continued to weaken over the past week. The recent leg lower in BTC and ETH has coincided with Michael Saylor’s Strategy selling $2.5 million of its $52 billion BTC hoard, breaking the CEO’s “Sell a kidney if you must, but keep the Bitcoin” mantra, as well as the longest outflow streak from spot Bitcoin ETFs since launch,” says Rahman.
He sees evidence of a potential capital rotation, or “speculative froth”, in perpetual futures contracts tracking real-world assets, as well as pre-IPO perps, while Bitcoin and ETH decline.
“Crypto-native punters are also finding the pre-IPO segment of the market of particular interest. These perp contracts provide economic exposure to privately listed companies, with the ratio of pre-IPO perp volume to ETH notional perp volume increasing from a negligible ~0.1% to a 3.0% peak. Volume has jumped from a sub-$5M/day baseline to upwards of $50M/day, led by perp contracts tracking SpaceX.”
CoinShares notes that its research indicates institutional selling of BTC, highly concentrated in hedge funds and brokerages.
Any updates on the US Federal Government Bitcoin reserve probably won’t be enough for Bitcoin to catch a bid. Perhaps what is needed is a pump-and-dump SpaceX IPO, where fast money gets in and gets out, booking a profit before moving on. Perhaps back to crypto. If anything, Bitcoin maintains its crown as the most volatile asset, something many traders embrace.