By Sofia Navarro
Bitcoin failed to sustain a midweek bounce and slipped below $68,000 on Friday, extending a string of declines that has left the market facing its fifth consecutive monthly fall. At 00:48 ET (05:48 GMT) Bitcoin was quoted at $67,788.0, down almost 1% on the session.
Across the digital-asset complex, prices largely tracked Bitcoin’s weakness, with many tokens also poised for steep losses in February as both retail and institutional participants pulled back from the sector.
Market backdrop
Bitcoin entered the month deep in the red, having lost nearly 14% during February. That decline has formed part of a broader risk-off environment for crypto assets this month, with little evidence that investor risk appetite is recovering.
Market participants cited a mix of factors contributing to the cautious tone - heightened geopolitical tensions, uncertainty around major global economies, and concerns about further disruptions from U.S. trade tariffs. These elements have combined to reduce demand for speculative instruments such as cryptocurrencies.
Over the course of February, the crypto had at times fallen as much as 50% below its October record high, though there was a modest rebound from the lowest levels reached earlier in the month. Still, Bitcoin’s price path remains in a persistent downtrend that began in October and has not been sufficiently offset by buying from large corporate holders.
Corporate holdings and balance-sheet pressure
Large corporate accumulation provided some support earlier in the downtrend, but buying by the entity identified as Strategy has tapered in recent months. Observers noted concern that further price deterioration could compel that corporate holder to liquidate portions of its Bitcoin stash to satisfy debt commitments, a dynamic that would add selling pressure to an already fragile market.
MARA Holdings and an AI pivot
In corporate crypto news, shares of MARA Holdings - the company formerly known as Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) - rallied sharply on Thursday after the miner disclosed an agreement with Starwood Capital to repurpose some mining facilities into artificial intelligence data centres. The market reaction was pronounced: MARA shares climbed as much as 17% in after-hours trading following the announcement.
That uptick largely eclipsed a painful fourth-quarter financial report in which the company posted a $1.7 billion loss. The loss reflected the sustained slide in Bitcoin prices, which undermined the profitability of MARA’s mining operations. Revenue in the period also fell short of expectations.
Management’s recent efforts to reallocate computing infrastructure from crypto mining to AI processing have been viewed in part as a response to the unprofitability of mining under weak Bitcoin pricing and rising operating pressures.
Altcoins: February performance
Ether, the second-largest token by market value, declined 1.2% to $2,038.21 on Friday and was on pace to post a roughly 17% drop for February. Traders pointed to additional selling pressure after Ethereum founder Vitalik Buterin reduced his holdings in the token, an action that reinforced risk-off signals for the market.
Other tokens also registered losses in February: XRP fell 2.3% on the day and was set for about a 15% monthly decline; BNB steadied in intraday trading but remained down nearly 20% for the month; Solana recorded a roughly 17% drop in February; Cardano was trading flat on Friday after its monthly movement; among meme tokens, Dogecoin and $TRUMP were down approximately 5.4% and 20% in February respectively.
Implications
The current environment underscores the sensitivity of cryptocurrencies to broader macro and geopolitical developments, as well as to concentrated flows from large holders and corporate operators. While select corporate moves into adjacent markets - such as MARA’s AI data-centre deal - can produce episodic positive reactions, they have not reversed the prevailing market weakness across digital assets.
For now, Bitcoin and the wider crypto market remain under pressure, with February’s losses likely to weigh on sentiment into the near term.