Hey all, Liam here. 

BlackRock just notched a new record for one of its winningest funds. 

This time, the reason was less than bullish. 

BlackRock’s Bitcoin ETF, which trades under the ticker IBIT, broke $10 billion in trading volume amid Thursday’s market crash. 

Looking more closely, that trading action was mostly from investors selling, as one would imagine when an asset plummets 20% in a week.

Indeed, more than $434 million exited various US-based crypto funds yesterday, according to SoSoValue. 

BlackRock’s fund made up roughly 40% of that, followed by Fidelity’s Bitcoin fund. 

Data for other funds paint an equally frantic picture. 

CoinShares analyst James Butterfill reported that crypto products recorded $18.5 billion in trading volume on Thursday — the largest ever. 

Today, Bitcoin trades at roughly $67,400 after briefly falling below $60,000 on some trading platforms early Friday morning. 

And with the latest price action, the $1.3 trillion cryptocurrency officially gave up all its gains since pro-crypto US President Donald Trump was elected in 2024. But Bitcoin wasn’t the only cryptocurrency to fall. 

Ether fell below $2,000 on Thursday, while other leading altcoins posted crashes of more than 20% this past week. 

The reasons are myriad, and unlike previous crashes, don’t hinge on the collapse of a large centralised exchange or a depegging stablecoin. 

In fact, it looks a lot like general market skittishness stemming from weak US jobs data. 

“It is likely a mix of tech equities being over extended while Bitcoin is failing its 'safe-haven' test and being very sensitive to risk asset pricing,” Kaiko analyst Laurens Fraussen told DL News. 

He added that Bitcoin will likely trade between $60,000 and $70,000 for the time being. 

“The silver lining right now is that most of the aggressive selling is likely done,” Fraussen said.

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Executives at digital asset treasury companies put on a brave face on Thursday as cryptocurrencies continued their monthslong slide, Aleks Gilbert reports.

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The top crypto is now down nearly 50% from its peak, erasing gains made after the election of US President Donald Trump, who supports the industry. Lance Datskoluo has the details.

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Gloria Zhao, a prolific Bitcoin developer, has stepped down as a Bitcoin Core maintainer after three and a half years in the role, reports Tim Craig.

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