Bitcoin Slides Amid Macroeconomic Concerns and Risk Aversion

Bitcoin (BTC) fell below $66,000 on Friday in the early US session, as rising macroeconomic risks spurred investors to shed risky assets. The leading cryptocurrency has largely reversed Wednesday’s gains, dropping 3% from approximately $68,000 to $65,600 in morning trading.

Broader Market Weakness

The broader cryptocurrency market mirrored Bitcoin’s decline. The CoinDesk 20 index fell 2.3% over the past 24 hours, with ether (ETH), XRP (XRP), and solana (SOL) experiencing similar drops. Cryptocurrency-related stocks also followed suit, relinquishing gains made earlier in the week.

MicroStrategy (MSTR), the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin, decreased by 3%, while Coinbase (COIN) lost over 2%. Circle (CRCL), a stablecoin issuer, saw a nearly 5% decline, interrupting a recent rebound that had boosted the stock by almost 50% in a couple of sessions.

Miners, increasingly involved in AI infrastructure expansion, fared even worse. IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Core Scientific (CORZ), and TeraWulf (WULF) all dropped between 6% and 8%.

US Market Trends and Economic Data

This downturn coincided with declines in US stock indexes, with the Nasdaq falling 0.8% and the S&P 500 dropping 0.6%. Several factors contributed to the risk-off sentiment.

A higher-than-expected Producer Price Index (PPI) reading last month dampened hopes for a continued cooling of inflation. In January, core PPI rose 3.6% year-over-year, exceeding the estimated 3.0% and increasing from the previous 3.3%. Markets are now pricing in a 96% probability that the Federal Reserve will hold interest rates steady at its March 18 meeting.^CoinDesk

Concerns about stress in credit markets persist, with credit spreads at a four-month high. Private equity firms KKR (KKR), Ares (ARES), and Apollo Global Management (APO) experienced declines of 6%-7%, hitting new session lows.

Geopolitical tensions also played a role, with the odds of US strikes against Iran increasing after the US began evacuating staff from the Israeli embassy.

Flight to Safety

In response to the increased uncertainty, investors moved funds into safe-haven assets. The 10-year US Treasury yield fell below 4% for the first time since November 2024. Precious metals rallied, with gold rising 1% to above $2,030 an ounce, and silver jumping 4% to trade above $92. Crude oil also increased, rising 2.3% to over $76 a barrel.^CoinDesk

As of February 27, 2026, at 12:52 pm EST, Bitcoin was trading at $65,494.47, with a 24-hour trading volume of $21.92 billion.^CoinDesk The market capitalization of Bitcoin is $1,314,863,963,291.^CoinDesk