Hey, Eric here. 

Alexa, play my “Apocalypse Nowish” playlist. 

Not only has the Doomsday clock been set to 85 seconds to midnight — the closest it’s ever been to Armageddon — but markets are looking pretty grim right now.

Crypto traders who held out hope for a last-minute January rally were sorely disappointed on Thursday when Bitcoin’s price crashed 6% to tremble just above the $82,000 line.

The slump wasn’t contained to digital assets either. 

The dollar is down to a four-year low, and stock markets plummeted, too. 

The S&P 500, Nasdaq 100, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are down roughly 1% on Friday. 

Gold and silver, which have been on a tear this week, finally tumbled by more than 4% and 5%, respectively. 

So what’s behind the market mayhem? 

Take your pick. Analysts are spoilt for choice when it comes to explaining the crash.

Autopsies include the hangover from the October sell-off, which saw $1 trillion wiped out from the total crypto market’s value; US President Donald Trump’s nomination of hawkish candidate Kevin Warsh as the next Federal Reserve chair; tariff threats; the fatal shootings in Minneapolis; and Trump’s seemingly flippant attitude towards the crashing value of the dollar.

And then there’s the artificial intelligence worries. 

Bitcoin slid as tech stocks like Microsoft fell amid investor concerns that tech giants are overspending on AI with little to show for it.

“Regardless of the fact that many in the Bitcoin space see Bitcoin as the world’s hardest money and stack Bitcoin regardless of price, the vast majority of the market still sees Bitcoin as a tech trade,” Timot Lamarre, director of market research at Unchained, said.

And it may not be over yet. 

Kraken analysts warn that Bitcoin’s price could crash below $80,000. 

Even before this week’s chaos, analysts said it could fall further to $75,000 or even $10,000.

Yet, in the midst of the market pandemonium, perennial crypto bulls like Maelstrom’s Arthur Hayes, Strategy’s Michael Saylor, and Bitmine’s Tom Lee are topping up their coffers with more digital assets — betting on a better tomorrow for cyber cash. 

Here’s hoping the light they’re seeing at the end of the tunnel is the dawn of a new day and not another freight train. 

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After silver slumped this week, crypto watchers were quick to make light of the situation.

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