Bitcoin drops below $70,000 as crypto selloff deepens before US equity market opens

Bitcoin fell below $70,000 as the crypto selloff deepened before the start of equities trading in the U.S.

The largest cryptocurrency dropped to as low as $69.917.20 according to CoinDesk data, with sentiment sliding further into "extreme fear." The Fear and Greed Index sits at 11, a level reached only a handful of times in the past.

The selloff remains largely contained within digital assets and metals, as broader U.S. equity markets show resilience. Gold fell more than 1%, slipping below $4,900 per ounce, and silver dropped over 11%, falling to under $79 per ounce.

U.S. equities, by contrast, are slightly higher in pre-market trading. The Invesco QQQ exchange-traded fund (ETF), which tracks the Nasdaq 100 index, is up 0.05%.

Bitcoin-exposed equities, however, extended declines. Strategy (MSTR), the largest publicly traded holder of the largest cryptocurrency, is down over 5% and nearly 80% below its November 2024 all time high. The company is due to report fourth-quarter earnings later Thursday.

Other bitcoin treasury companies, including Strive (ASST) and Nakamoto (NAKA), are down roughly 6%.

Crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) is lower by another 2% while rival Bullish, the owner of CoinDesk, is down 0.4%.

Bitcoin linked AI miners are mixed. IREN (IREN) is down 3%, while Cipher Mining (CIFR) is down 2%, following steep declines of around 15% each on Wednesday. Larger miners with significant bitcoin holdings, including Riot (RIOT), MARA Holdings (MARA), and CleanSpark (CLSK), are all about 3% lower.

Some potential relief may emerge if correlations hold, as the iShares Expanded Tech Software ETF (IGV) is slightly higher. That's an industry sector bitcoin has historically tracked closely. Meanwhile, Google (GOOG) is down 3% despite beating fourth-quarter profit forecasts, after announcing higher capital expenditures of $185 billion, up from $175 billion, with estimated spending of about $119.5 billion.