Bitcoin Crashes to $64K as Bitdeer Dumps Entire Treasury for AI Pivot

Bitcoin is bleeding out. The king of crypto just crashed below $65,000 — hitting a low of $64,324 over the weekend, its weakest level since early February. But this isn't just another dip. This is a full-scale risk-off event driven by geopolitical tensions, tariff chaos, and a stunning corporate capitulation.

What Just Happened

Let's connect the dots on a brutal 48 hours for crypto:

• Bitcoin down 49% from its 2025 peak — $1.21 trillion in market cap erased in 139 days
• Bitdeer liquidates 100% of its BTC treasury — selling 1,132 BTC to fund an AI infrastructure pivot
• Fear & Greed Index hits 8 — the lowest reading since the FTX collapse
• Trump's 15% global tariffs announced Saturday, triggering immediate risk-off across all assets
• Gold and silver surging — up 20%+ YTD while crypto bleeds

This isn't just price action. This is a structural shift in market sentiment.

The Bitdeer Signal: Miners Are Pivoting

Here's the headline that should stop you cold: Bitdeer just sold every single Bitcoin it owned.

943.1 BTC from reserves. 189.8 BTC from newly mined coins. Total balance: zero. The company explicitly said the proceeds are being redirected toward data center expansion and AI cloud infrastructure.

This isn't a distress sale. It's a strategic pivot. And it signals something bigger: Bitcoin miners are increasingly asking whether holding BTC is the best use of capital — or whether the AI compute gold rush is the better bet.

When miners stop being natural buyers and start being sellers, it removes a key source of demand absorption from the market. That matters.

Macro Mayhem: The Trump Tariff Bomb

Bitcoin doesn't exist in a vacuum. On Saturday, Trump announced 15% retaliatory tariffs on US trading partners "effective immediately" — just one day after the Supreme Court struck down his previous trade taxes.

The market reaction was swift and brutal:

• Bitcoin dropped from $67,600 to $64,700 in under two hours
• Ethereum, XRP, and Solana followed with sharp declines
• Risk-off sentiment spiked while safe havens rallied

Add to that the ongoing Iran tension — Trump said he'd decide on military action within 10 days — and you have a perfect storm of macro uncertainty driving capital out of speculative assets.

The Liquidation Cascade

On-chain data tells an ugly story:

• Short-term whales hold $26 billion in unrealized losses — one of the highest levels this year
• BTC open interest crashed to $19.5 billion — down from a 2026 peak of $38.3 billion
• XRP posted its largest realized loss spike since 2022
• Vitalik Buterin sold 1,869 ETH ($3.67M) in the past two days as ETH slid 5.7%

When whales are underwater and open interest is evaporating, the leverage flush can accelerate quickly. We're watching that play out in real time.

The $317M Token Unlock Wave

As if the market needed more supply pressure — Tokenomist reports $317 million in token unlocks are scheduled over the next seven days. Major unlocks include:

• Large one-time unlocks: SUI, JUP, H, GRASS, XPL, EIGEN, KMNO, SVL
• Linear daily unlocks: RAIN, CC, TRUMP, WLD, RIVER, DOGE, ASTER

Supply shocks on top of sentiment shocks. Not a recipe for quick recovery.

The Bigger Picture

Zoom out and the numbers get uglier:

• Total crypto market cap is down $1.3 trillion since Trump's inauguration
• Binance spot trading volumes have reportedly plunged 95%
• The Fear & Greed Index at 8 is the lowest since FTX — a genuine extreme fear reading

This isn't a normal correction. This is a liquidity crisis meeting a sentiment collapse. Volume is evaporating. Conviction is gone. And the bid side of the order book is thin.

What Comes Next

The technical picture is bifurcated:

• Bear case: We're in a bear pennant with downside risk toward $50K if support fails
• Bull case: The leverage flush cleared weak hands, overhead liquidity is intact, and a relief squeeze could materialize

Neither scenario is guaranteed. What is guaranteed is that the next 1-2 weeks are critical. If Bitcoin can hold current lows on daily closes, the path back to $70K opens. If not, we're testing psychological levels that haven't been relevant since 2024.

Our Take

This drawdown is one of the most unusual in Bitcoin's history. A 49% decline without a meaningful relief rally is rare. The lack of bid-side liquidity suggests the market is still searching for a new equilibrium.

But extreme fear readings have historically been contrarian signals. The last time the Fear & Greed Index was this low, crypto was bottoming before a massive rally.

We're not calling a bottom. We're watching for signs of stabilization: volume returning, open interest rebuilding, and whales accumulating rather than capitulating. None of those signals are flashing yet.

Until they do, the trend is your friend. And right now, the trend is down.

What We're Watching

• $64K support: The February 6 low at $60K is the next level if this breaks
• Miner behavior: Will other BTC miners follow Bitdeer's lead?
• Macro headlines: Any escalation on Iran or tariffs could extend the risk-off
• Whale on-chain activity: Watch for accumulation vs. continued distribution
• Derivatives metrics: Open interest and funding rates for signs of stabilization

The crypto market is in genuine distress right now. But distress is where opportunity is born — for those patient enough to wait for the dust to settle.

Stay sharp. The next few weeks will define 2026.