Bitcoin Tumbles under $67K — Fear Replaces Faith as Crypto’s Safe-Haven Story Frays

The Financial Times, CNBC, Bloomberg, and CNN contributed to this report.

Bitcoin slid below $67,000 on Thursday — the lowest it’s been since November 2024 — as a fresh wave of selling and souring sentiment about crypto’s role kicked into high gear. Traders who’d once praised BTC as “digital gold” are suddenly asking whether it’s anything more than a liquid risk asset tied to the mood in markets.

Quick snapshot: BTC, ETH and XRP all puked on the session. Bitcoin’s move was sharp and messy: it broke under the $70,000 level earlier in the day and kept falling, leaving the token more than 45% off its October peak. Ether and other altcoins also took it on the chin, with painful weekly losses across the board. Forced liquidations piled up — more than $2 billion wiped out in long and short positions this week alone — adding fuel to the rout.

This isn’t just another price dip. For months, bitcoin’s boosters have argued it can work as a hedge against inflation, a store of value and a quasi-currency. The reality lately has been different: when risk appetite fades, bitcoin has been moving in lockstep with high-beta assets like tech stocks instead of rallying as a safe haven. That disconnect has investors rethinking the whole narrative.

“Traditional investors are losing interest, and overall pessimism about crypto is growing,” one analyst put it, capturing the mood that’s settled over the market.

The sell-off has turned theoretical concerns into something painfully concrete: if $70,000 — a key psychological and technical support — fails to hold, a slide into the $60,000s becomes a lot more likely.

Analysts have been blunt. James Butterfill, head of research at CoinShares, flagged $70,000 as the crucial line in the sand.

“If we fail to hold it, a move toward the $60,000 to $65,000 range becomes quite likely,” he said — a warning sign for traders watching for a capitulation.

Others note the institutional picture has flipped. Exchange-traded funds and big players that were buyers last year have turned into sellers this year, a trend that hurts liquidity and amplifies volatility. CryptoQuant and other data providers point to a break below the 365-day moving average — a technical sell signal not seen since spring 2022 — as another reason caution has taken hold.

The damage has been broad. Ether is deep in the red for the week, on track for one of its worst stretches since the end of 2022. XRP, Solana and other midsize tokens are registering double-digit drops. Even risk proxies like crypto-linked equities and cloud or chip stocks tied to mining and AI haven’t been spared.

There are a few interlinked reasons:

• Correlation with risk assets. During recent geopolitical flare-ups and market stress, bitcoin has behaved more like a growth stock than like gold. Rather than a diversifier, it’s been another reflection of investor risk appetite.
• Institutional flows reversed. ETFs and big wallets that bought in 2025 are now lighter, and that removes a major stabilizing force.
• Forced selling and liquidity shocks. When leveraged traders get liquidated, prices move violently lower and often overshoot fair value. This week’s $2 billion-plus in liquidations is a textbook amplifier.
• Macro turbulence and headlines. Rising rates, equity slumps and geopolitical worries all pile on. When traders rush for safety, crypto’s claim to that role is being tested — and failing so far.

Crypto veterans point out the obvious: bitcoin has survived worse. The market has weathered blows in 2014, 2018, 2021 and 2022, each followed by recoveries. That track record is why many bulls shrug and say this is painful but familiar cleansing.

Still, the scale matters. Bitcoin is down materially from its October high, while traditional safe havens like gold have surged noticeably over the same period — a divergence that has made skeptics louder. When gold’s rally outpaces bitcoin’s performance during periods of uncertainty, it’s hard to sell the “digital gold” thesis with a straight face.

Short term, watch the $70,000 mark: a confident rebound above it could restore some buyer confidence. A sustained breakdown below $70,000, though, opens the door to deeper losses toward the $60K area. Keep an eye on institutional flows (ETFs), liquidation metrics, and whether big macro moves in equities or rates push more selling.

Longer term, the narrative will hinge on utility and adoption. Is bitcoin merely a speculative instrument propped up by liquidity, or will it carve out durable, differentiated economic roles — as a payments rail, a reserves asset for some institutions, or a genuine inflation hedge? That question is suddenly more than academic.

Thursday’s drop below $67,000 is a jolt, not an apocalypse — but it’s also a reality check. Traders who expected an unbroken run-up to ever-higher prices are getting a lesson in liquidity, correlation and market psychology. If $70,000 can’t hold, the next chapter for bitcoin may be less about the old “digital gold” story and more about whether it can survive the test of being a true store of value.