SINGAPORE: Bitcoin plunged on Thursday, its decline accelerating amid weakening risk sentiment driven in part by volatility in precious metals and a broad selloff in tech shares.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency fell to a low of $66,675.12, its weakest since October 2024, a month before Trump won the US presidential election, having signalled his intention to support crypto on the campaign trail. It was last down 6.5pc at $67,817.

All told, the global crypto market has lost $2 trillion in value since hitting a peak of $4.379 trillion in early October, CoinGecko data showed, with some $800 billion wiped out in the last month alone.

Bitcoin has already fallen 11pc for the week, taking its losses for the year so far to 23pc. Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, was down more than 7pc at $1,973 on Thursday. Ether has fallen nearly 14pc this week, with losses of roughly 34pc so far this year.

Sentiment on crypto was affected by the latest selling in metals and stocks. Gold and silver, for instance, have become more volatile as a result of leveraged buying and speculative flows. Silver, for one, fell as much as 16.6pc to a low of $73.41.

“It’s clear the crypto market is now in full capitulation mode,” said Nic Puckrin, investment analyst and co-founder of Coin Bureau. “If previous cycles are anything to go by, this is no longer a short-term correction, but rather a transition from distribution to reset — and these typically take months, not weeks.”

Trump’s selection of Kevin Warsh as his pick to become the next Federal Reserve chair has also fue­lled the latest rout in cryptocurrencies, due to expectations he could shrink the Fed’s balance sheet. “The market fears a hawk with him,” said Manuel Villegas Franceschi from the next generation research team at Julius Baer.

Published in Dawn, February 6th, 2026