It’s a bad day for Bitcoin and cryptocurrency-related stocks as a plunge by over 7% in BTC price led to a downturn in the performance of several big names, such as MicroStrategy, Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) and more. The scale of this selloff doesn't appear to be on par with the bearish corrections that hit the crypto market in recent weeks.
Coinbase, the biggest publicly traded crypto exchange, declined 6% during the day, while mining companies Riot Platforms (NASDAQ:RIOT) and Marathon Digital (MARA), which have not performed as well even amidst the crypto rally this year, fell by 3.6% and 5.1%, respectively.
Other stocks such as Bitcoin miner CleanSpark (NASDAQ:CLSK) dropped by 3.5%, and MicroStrategy (MSTR), the biggest corporate holder of bitcoin, fell sharply by 9.4%, trading at $1,482 at the time of writing.
The recent lackluster performance of crypto stocks occurs just a few weeks ahead of the next Bitcoin halving. This event, which happens roughly every four years, will see the rewards for miners per block cut from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC.
“This recent price pullback could most probably be attributed to a degree of profit-taking from holders,” Nexo’s Kristian Haralampiev told Investing.com.
Bitcoin is dropping for the second consecutive day as the new month and quarter began, amid rising Treasury yields and a stronger U.S. dollar.
The leading cryptocurrency lost over 7% on Tuesday to trade below $65,000, accumulating a two-day loss of around 10%. The downturn started on Monday following upbeat US manufacturing and as expectations for Fed’s rate cuts in June began to diminish.
Meanwhile, the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield reached its peak for the year, while the dollar, which typically moves inversely to Bitcoin, hit its highest level in almost five months.
The recent decline in Bitcoin's value may have been intensified by the actions of a large Bitcoin holder, often referred to as a "whale," who moved over 4,000 Bitcoin to the Bitfinex exchange late on Monday night. The sudden increase in crypto exchanges’ reserves is often associated with a rise in selling pressure.