On Friday, Bitcoin fell below the $60,000 threshold for the first time in 2024, continuing its recent decline.
The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was trading at $59,909, reflecting a decrease of approximately 6% for the day and a 18.5% drop over the past week. Other major cryptocurrencies have experienced similar downturns, with Ethereum down 23% this week at about $1,555, while Solana has fallen 22% in the last week to $63.75.
Bitcoin has now lost over 52% from its peak of $126,080 reached in October of last year.
Factors such as rising ETF outflows and Strategy's first Bitcoin sale since 2022 were identified as significant contributors to earlier losses this week. However, the latest downturn for Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies coincides with robust U.S. jobs data, which has raised expectations for interest rate hikes, and concerns about crypto security following a significant vulnerability in Zcash, a privacy-oriented coin.
In May, U.S. employers added 172,000 jobs, nearly double the anticipated figure. As a result, traders are now predicting rate increases by the end of the year, as indicated by CME's FedWatch tool, which typically exerts downward pressure on Bitcoin's price.
According to Nicolai Søndergaard, a research analyst at crypto analytics firm Nansen, "Strong jobs data kills the rate cut narrative. Bitcoin, already down 15% and burdened by uncleared leveraged longs, lacks a macro catalyst for recovery, and ongoing tensions in the Middle East are dampening risk appetite across markets."
While Zcash developers addressed the vulnerability this week, they stated on Thursday that it remains unclear whether this flaw was exploited to create an unlimited amount of ZEC due to the network's privacy-centric nature. This revelation has resulted in a significant drop in the price of ZEC, which has plummeted over 40% in the past 24 hours.
As the industry grapples with the repercussions of ZEC's decline and the future of that protocol, fears may be escalating that increasingly powerful AI models could uncover potential vulnerabilities in other major cryptocurrencies.
Although not reflected in the price movements on Friday, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs ended a 13-day streak of outflows on Thursday, bringing in over $3 million in investments. While this is a modest amount, it marks a turnaround after billions had flowed out of these funds in recent weeks, leading to negative overall flows in 2026.
Additionally, stocks are experiencing declines on Friday, with the Nasdaq down by 2.5% since the market opened, and Nvidia (NVDA) shares dropping around 4.5%. Crypto-related stocks are also facing losses, with Strategy (MSTR) down nearly 10% for the day and Coinbase (COIN) down 8.4%.