Bitcoin BTC fell below $82,000 on Thursday as a broader cryptocurrency selloff triggered nearly $1 billion in liquidations, while rising oil prices and geopolitical tensions added to pressure on risk assets.
Bitcoin touched an intraday low of $80,426.95 before recovering to around $81,423.05, leaving it down 2.9% over the previous 24 hours.
The decline came as investors assessed renewed pressure across financial markets alongside a sharp rise in energy prices.
The selloff also spread to major crypto-linked stocks and other digital assets, with traders holding long positions accounting for most of the liquidations recorded over the past day.
Crypto-linked stocks fall as Bitcoin selloff spreads
Large-cap cryptocurrency equities also declined during Thursday’s trading session.
Strategy (MSTR), Coinbase (COIN) and Block (XYZ) each fell more than 2% in today’s trade. Circle (CRCL), the issuer of the USDC stablecoin, declined as much as 1.5%.
Ethereum treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) was among the hardest-hit crypto-related stocks. Its shares fell more than 5% in midday trading, reaching levels last seen in mid-September.
The weakness in crypto-linked equities followed declines across major digital assets.
Solana fell 7.1% over the previous 24 hours to $107.92, while Dogecoin dropped 6.4% to about $0.08.
XRP and Ethereum each declined about 4.5%, with XRP trading near $1.36 and Ethereum around $2,440.
The moves came as traders faced increased volatility across the cryptocurrency market and broader risk assets.
Nearly $1B in crypto positions liquidated
Data from CoinGlass showed total cryptocurrency liquidations of $974 million over the previous 24 hours.
Long positions accounted for $896 million of the total, compared with $78 million in short liquidations.
The figures indicate that traders positioned for further gains suffered most of the forced closures during the selloff.
Ethereum led liquidations with $311 million, followed by Bitcoin at $238 million.
The heavy liquidation activity added to downward pressure as leveraged traders were forced to close positions amid falling prices.
Bitcoin’s decline also came alongside significant movements of cryptocurrency linked to US government seizures.
Arkham data showed that wallets linked to the US government moved 12,267 Bitcoin, worth about $1.01 billion, from a wallet associated with a Bitfinex hack seizure to new, unlabeled addresses, reported CoinDesk.
No exchange deposit appeared in the transaction, suggesting the movement was a transfer between wallets rather than an immediate sale.
The move followed heavier exchange-bound activity a day earlier, when about 3,200 Bitcoin worth roughly $264 million, along with $119 million in USDT, moved to Coinbase Prime deposit addresses.
The funds were traced to wallets linked to the FTX/Alameda and Bitfinex seizures.
Oil rally adds pressure to risk assets
The cryptocurrency selloff coincided with another rise in oil prices, adding to concerns about inflation and broader market risk.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures for November rose as much as 5.5% to around $93 a barrel before paring gains to roughly $91.
Brent crude futures for December reached $105.65 before easing to about $104.43.
The oil rally followed an overnight attack on a tanker off the coast of Qatar, increasing concerns about regional security and energy supplies.
Oil prices later pulled back after President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that there were no plans to attack Iran before the midterm elections. The comments appeared to ease some immediate concerns about further military action, although oil prices remained elevated.
Meanwhile, prediction market Kalshi Crypto said its traders were forecasting Bitcoin could fall to $78,000 this month following the government-linked Bitcoin transfer.
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