Topline
A weeklong selloff for bitcoin extended on Friday as the cryptocurrency fell below the $60,000 threshold for the first time since late 2024, after billionaire Michael Saylor sparked a broader decline for the crypto market.
Key Facts
The price of bitcoin fell to a low of $59,840 just after noon on Friday, though the cryptocurrency subsequently recovered losses to rise above $61,000 shortly after 1:15 p.m. EST.
Bitcoin has plunged by 18% over the last week, with further losses from ethereum (down 21%), BNB (10.5%), XRP (16.8%), Solana (21.5%), Tron (6.5%) and the meme token Dogecoin (17.9%).
That’s the lowest level for the world’s largest cryptocurrency since Oct. 10, 2024, after which then-presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign fueled a rally across the market, with the price of bitcoin hitting $100,000 for the first time by early December 2024.
The latest selloff for bitcoin followed an announcement from Saylor’s Strategy, the world’s largest institutional holder of the cryptocurrency, that it would sell 32 bitcoins to raise about $2.5 million in its second such sale and its first since December 2022.
surprising fact
The price of bitcoin is now down more than half from its all-time high of $126,186 set in October 2025.
big number
About $600 billion. That’s how much has been erased from the global crypto market’s aggregate market value since May 10, dropping from a high of $2.7 trillion to $2.1 trillion as of Friday, according to CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin dominates the global crypto market, accounting for roughly 58% of its market value.
tangent
Cardano’s ADA token, once valued as the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency behind bitcoin and ethereum, fell to a six-year low on Wednesday. The token’s latest sell-off followed the cancellation of the Cardano Foundation, a Swiss nonprofit that oversees and promotes development of the Cardano blockchain, which announced it would cancel its flagship summit following a failed community vote.
key background
A record-setting surge for bitcoin over the last year followed a pro-crypto push from Trump, who said he wanted the U.S. to become the “crypto capital of the world.” The cryptocurrency fell to a post-inauguration low of just over $75,000 by April 2025, but promises of pro-crypto legislation pushed bitcoin above $120,000 by July, rising above $122,000 just days later. That surge came amid major crypto investments by some firms, including Trump Media and Technology Group, which announced it would raise some $2.5 billion to establish a corporate bitcoin reserve. Since hitting a peak in October 2025, bitcoin’s value has deteriorated following waning demand for spot bitcoin ETFs and lower odds of future interest rate cuts.
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