CoinDesk
Bitcoin held near $65,000 in Asian trading on Friday, down less than 1% on the day, while the Magnificent Seven shed $797 billion in market value in their worst session since the April 2025 tariff rout. The largest crypto traded around $65,400, up 3% on the week, while the rest of the majors slipped modestly: Ether fell 3% to $1,879, dogecoin dropped 5% to $0.069, XRP lost 2% to $1.11, and Solana slipped 3% to $76.
The trigger for the equity selloff was AI capital expenditure. Alphabet raised its 2025 capex forecast to as much as $205 billion, and Elon Musk called 2026 "a massive capex year" as Tesla reported profits well below expectations. Both reports hardened a worry that Big Tech is pouring hundreds of billions into AI infrastructure faster than returns can justify, the same worry that has driven crypto for weeks.
Why it matters
Bitcoin has spent the last month trading as a proxy for the AI capital cycle, rising when chip stocks rallied and falling when they wobbled, with no real signal of its own. A session where the AI trade broke and Bitcoin barely moved is the first evidence the two may not be as tightly coupled as the rally implied. The decoupling, if it holds, would let crypto respond to its own flow drivers: ETF demand, miner economics, and the policy backdrop, rather than consuming sentiment imported from NASDAQ.
The caveat is structural. Bitcoin miners have rebuilt themselves as AI data-center operators, so a sustained retreat from AI spending eventually transmits to the network, just slower than the reflexive sell-through that has marked the last month. One session is not a thesis, but it is the first session worth watching.
Market impact
The Magnificent Seven dropped 4.8% on Thursday, dragging the S&P 500 down 1.2% and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.9%, leaving the group 11% below its late-May peak and erasing roughly $2 trillion since then. Crypto's relative calm against that backdrop is the story. Weaker majors like dogecoin and HYPE did bleed, suggesting the risk-off impulse did reach altcoin books, but the flagship held the line, the kind of session that argues for Bitcoin as a portfolio diversifier rather than a leveraged AI bet.
Frequently asked questions
-
Why did Bitcoin hold steady while tech stocks crashed?
Bitcoin spent the prior month trading as a proxy for the AI capital cycle, so Thursday's $797B wipeout in the Magnificent Seven was the first genuine test of that link. BTC held near $65,400, down less than 1%, while the structurally weaker altcoins still bled.
-
What triggered the AI selloff in the Magnificent Seven?
Alphabet raised its 2025 capex forecast to as much as $205 billion, and Elon Musk called 2026 a massive capex year as Tesla reported profits well below expectations. Both reports hardened fears that Big Tech is spending on AI infrastructure faster than returns can justify.
-
How much did the Magnificent Seven lose in market value?
The group shed $797 billion on Thursday, their worst single session since the April 2025 tariff selloff. The drop dragged the S&P 500 down 1.2% and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.9%, leaving the Mag 7 roughly 11% below its late-May peak.
-
Is Bitcoin truly decoupling from the AI trade?
One session is not a thesis. Bitcoin miners have rebuilt themselves as AI data-center operators, so a sustained retreat from AI capex would eventually transmit to the network, just slower than the reflexive sell-through that has marked the prior month.
-
How did other major cryptocurrencies perform during the selloff?
Ether fell 3% to $1,879, dogecoin dropped 5% to $0.069, XRP lost 2% to $1.11, and Solana slipped 3% to $76. The losses were real but modest against the equity backdrop, with weaker altcoins bearing more of the risk-off impulse.
CoinTelegraph
Crypto Capital Venture
CryptoSlate
Crypto News
Glassnode