Bitcoin, Down to Half Its Peak, Briefly Falls Below $60,000 as Crypto Is Left Behind in the AI Boom

[Financial News] Bitcoin's weakness is deepening as it has fallen exactly by half from its all-time high and briefly broken below the psychologically important $60,000 level. Analysts say that the cryptocurrency market is being held back by a broad shift in liquidity, including record outflows from Virtual Asset Spot ETFs and the rapid expansion of overseas exchanges' perpetual futures products tied to major Korean stocks, amid a global rush of capital into the Artificial intelligence (AI) sector.■ Bitcoin halves from its $126,000 peak, triggering a chain liquidation shock in the Cryptocurrency futures marketAccording to the Virtual Asset industry and global market platforms on the 13th, Bitcoin has fallen about 50% from its historic high of around $126,000 set last October, and at one point during the session dropped to the $59,000 range. Ahead of the weekend, it is locked in a precarious battle around the $60,000 psychological support level.
Market experts point to a massive wave of leveraged liquidations as the main trigger for the selloff. As Bitcoin came under downward pressure, leveraged long positions betting on gains in the Cryptocurrency futures market were forcibly liquidated. The resulting sell orders then deepened the decline, creating a vicious cycle.
Institutional demand risks also added to the pressure. According to blockchain data analytics firm Tiger Research, Bitcoin Spot ETFs saw net outflows of as much as $2.3 billion, or about 3.5 trillion won, over the past month. That is the largest monthly outflow so far this year and shows that capital flight is accelerating the downtrend.■ Liquidity is spreading amid the AI boom, and global exchanges' listing of domestic blue-chip stock futures delivers a direct blowA structural factor behind the crash is the dispersion of liquidity into real-asset markets. Global leveraged funds that once flowed almost exclusively into Virtual Asset are now moving toward the NYSE and other markets on the back of the AI expansion, while also shifting quickly into stock-linked perpetual futures products launched one after another by overseas derivatives exchanges.
In particular, the decisive factor was Binance, the world's largest Virtual Asset exchange, which recently listed a series of perpetual futures products based on leading Korean companies such as Samsung Electronics, SK hynix, and Hyundai Motor Company, allowing leverage of up to 20 times. As global retail investors who had chased the high-risk, high-return nature of Virtual Asset shifted their liquidity into familiar Korean blue-chip derivatives, or KOSPI stock futures, buying momentum in the Bitcoin market reportedly vanished sharply.
One market analyst said, "Even though favorable conditions have emerged, such as easing geopolitical security risks, including final coordination over a ceasefire negotiation between the U.S. and Iran, the Cryptocurrency market still cannot gain traction," adding, "The main reason is that capital flows have diversified into tangible domestic and overseas derivatives markets such as semiconductors and cars."■ The market is watching regulatory guidelines, with the Clarity Act and ARMA seen as possible rebound catalystsFor Bitcoin, which is increasingly isolated across the broader asset market, the introduction of institutional guidelines in the United States is expected to become the key turning point for establishing downside support and staging a rebound.
The most closely watched variable in the Virtual Asset industry is whether the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a bill on market structure that is awaiting a vote in the United States Senate, will pass. Only if the long-uncertain regulatory risk is resolved can large-scale institutional capital be expected to return.
Also drawing attention is the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bill linked to the Asset Reserves Modernization Act (ARMA), which was recently introduced and has begun to be discussed in U.S. political circles. A representative from the Virtual Asset Research Center said, "If Bitcoin is incorporated into the United States government's strategic reserve assets, institutional allocation could be far stronger than after Spot ETF approval," adding, "The fear that intensified over the weekend after the $60,000 break will ultimately reach an inflection point depending on how the U.S. regulatory legislative schedule becomes more concrete in the second half of the year."
wangjylee@fnnews.com Lee Jong-yoon Reporter