Live markets: Bitcoin rises above $61,000 as U.S. jobs data for June disappoints

"HODL," went a one-word tweet from the billionaire hedge funder minutes ago.

Loeb is the founder of hedge fund Third Point. Third Point earlier this year revealed a stake in Hut 8, but that investment was more about the company's data center business, rather than a bet on bitcoin mining.

Third Point lost $60 million years ago when it invested in FTX before the crypto exchange's collapse.

As the third quarter gets underway, markets are in the process of reversing what's been a historic run higher for those companies selling the picks and shovels of the AI boom.

That includes not just familiar names like SanDisk, Micron, and Applied Materials — all down double-digit percentages over the past two sessions — but also those bitcoin miners who shed that business for the far more lucrative operations of providing computing power for AI.

Keel Infrastructure (KEEL) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) are leading the declines, each down 14% on Thursday. Core Scientific (CORZ), IREN (IREN), TeraWulf (WULF), Hut 8 (HUT), and Riot Platforms (RIOT) are all lower by closer to 10%.

The Nasdaq is at its session low, off 1.5%. Bitcoin (BTC) is higher by 3% over the past 24 hours to $61,600.

Goldman Sachs' U.S. High Beta Momo stocks — essentially high-flying memory and chip stocks such as Micron, SanDisk, Intel, and Lam Research — are plunging again on Thursday.

That brings the two-day loss for the. basket to more than 23%, according to ZeroHedge , which adds that it's the worst two-day plunge for the group since the 2020 Covid market.

Some digital asset bulls have suggested that this sort of reversal in what's been an historic momentum trade might be necessary to send capital back into crypto.

Bitcoin (BTC) remains at $61,600, up about 3% over the past 24 hours.

Crypto markets are upbeat today, and long-running decentralized exchange Uniswap (UNI) stands out with a 15% gain over the past 24 hours.

Much of the advance occurred as Uniswap went live on Robinhood's blockchain as primary automated market maker.

DeFi protocols such as Uniswap and Morpho underpinning new services for traditional brokerages could unleash a new wave of growth, Geoffrey Kendrick, the head of digital asset research at Standard Chartered, wrote in a note to clients Thursday.

"These are exactly the type of partnerships I expect to come to DeFi over the next several quarters, and Uniswap specifically," Kendrick said. "The market is massively underestimating the potential for these partnerships on quality trusted DeFi protocols."

The selloff across former bitcoin mining companies that have repositioned as AI compute providers accelerated on Thursday. Cipher Digital (CIFR), IREN (IREN) and TeraWulf (WULF) each fell roughly 10% and are now down as much as 40% from their respective all-time highs.

Selling pressure intensified after Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that Meta (META) is creating a new business unit, dubbed "Meta Compute", to commercialize excess GPU capacity by selling it to third-party customers and potentially hosting AI models in its own data centers. The report challenged the long-held assumption that AI compute capacity is scarce, raising the prospect of a more competitive supply environment.

The Nasdaq has reversed an early advance of nearly 1%, now down 0.6% in late-morning U.S. trade.

AI-related favorites, like Micron (MU), AMD (AMD), SanDisk (SNDK), and Intel (INTC) are lower by 4%-10%.

Meanwhile, some of the recently roughed-up Mag 7 names are seeing buying interest, with Apple (AAPL) higher by 4%, and Microsoft (MSFT) and Amazon (AMZN) each ahead about 1.5%. Tesla (TSLA), though, is down 7% even after reporting strong delivery numbers for June.

The decline in the Nasdaq appears to be taking some starch out of the bitcoin rally, with BTC pulling back to $61,500, still up 2.7% over the past 24 hours.

"Rate hikes are not happening," wrote Leeker Capital CIO Quinn Thompson, who for a few weeks has suggested market expectations of tighter Fed policy were off target. "The recent labor market stabilization showed its first signs of cooling, which will continue. Inflation will cycle lower in coming months and Warsh's comments yesterday were another clue."

"[Rate] cuts are the base case now," said investment strategist Rosanna Prestia this morning

One month ago, as markets were freaking out over May's blowout 172,000 jobs gain (since revised down to 129,000), Prestia said it was a one-off due to hospitality hires for the World Cup.

Now up just shy of 5% over the past 24 hours, bitcoin (BTC) has risen past the $62,000 level for the first time in about 10 days.

The price remains lower by about 13% on a month-over-month basis.

Securitize (SECZ), a tokenization specialist that brings stocks and funds onchain with partners like BlackRock and Apollo, made its public debut today, merging with a Cantor-sponsored SPAC.

The stock is up 8% in the opening minutes.

The debut could be a litmus test for investor appetite for pure-play tokenization, a set like stocks, one of the hottest trends in crypto and finance.

With bitcoin nearing $62,000 as U.S. stocks open for trade, crypto stocks are moving nicely higher to begin the session.

Among the beneficiaries are Michael Saylor's and Strategy's common and preferred stocks.

MSTR is up 8.15% to $101 after plunging to as low as $81 one week ago.

STRC is up 3%, and just above $90 after its panicky tumble to $71 last week.

Matt Mena, senior crypto research strategist at 21Shares, said Thursday's weaker-than-expected U.S. jobs report strengthens the case for bitcoin as easing labor market conditions reduce pressure on the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates.

"Bitcoin, often viewed as one of the market's purest barometers for risk and liquidity, priced in the jobs data ahead of the release," Mena said, noting the crypto asset rebounded after briefly touching this cycle's low near $57,000. He added that bitcoin is "well positioned for a constructive second half of the year" and that a combination of improving technicals, supportive July seasonality and stronger on-chain fundamentals puts $100,000 "increasingly within reach" by year-end if current trends persist.

The U.S. added 52,000 jobs in June, according to the government's Nonfarm Payrolls Report. Economist forecasts had been for 110,000 and May's gain was 129,000, revised down from an originally reported 172,000.

The unemployment rate, however, did dip to 4.2%, against forecasts that it would remain flat at 4.3%. That decline occurred alongside a sizable drop in the labor force participation rate to 61.5% from 61.8%.

Up sharply ahead of the data, bitcoin remained at 61,300 immediately following the report, ahead about 4% over the past 24 hours.

U.S. stock index futures were on the rise following the soft print, the Nasdaq higher by 0.7%. The 10-year Treasury yield dipped about four basis points to 4.46%, and the 2-year yield fell five basis points.

The U.S. government report on June employment is due in about 30 minutes. Forecasts are for 110,000 jobs to have been added last month, down from 172,000 in May. The unemployment rate is expected to remain at 4.3%.

U.S. stock index futures are modestly lower and bond yields several basis points higher ahead of the print.

The data could go a long way in determining whether the Fed might hike interest rates at either its July or September meeting.

In a rarity, though, crypto markets are outperforming. Bitcoin (BTC) is up 4.5% over the past 24 hours to $61,100, with ether (ETH) similarly higher. The best performer among the majors is solana (SOL), up 10% after the introduction of a formal onchain governance system for the first time.

South Korea's Kospi slid 7.9% on Thursday after Samsung and SK Hynix shed a combined $290 billion in market value, the second time this month the index has blown up on AI chip worries.

Bitcoin clawed back above $61,100, up about 4% on the day, per CoinDesk data.

Meta flagged plans to sell computing power to outside customers, which raised the obvious question about whether the AI infrastructure buildout has overshot demand. Same doubt that hit the sector two weeks ago, different headline.

Bitcoin's read on the day was different. Warsh told the ECB forum in Sintra that inflation risks have come down, the first notably softer comment from him since the hawkish June dot plot triggered weeks of ETF outflows. Dollar slid and treasuries wavered.

Friday's U.S. jobs report is the next swing factor. Strong print hands the Fed cover to stay restrictive, while a soft print revives rate-cut pricing. Either way it sets the tone for July - a month that traders will watch after bitcoin's rare first half year-to-date loss that puts it firmly in midst of a bear market.

Binance saw over $2 billion in net outflows over the past 7 days, according to CoinMarketCap data .

The world's largest crypto exchange’s retail flow profile has also been weakening. CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said BTC inflows of less than 1 BTC on Binance have fallen to a monthly average of 329 BTC per day, the lowest level in the exchange’s history.

That compares with 2,690 BTC per day at the 2021 cycle peak and 3,700 BTC per day in 2018, according to the analyst. A single day in January 2018 saw 10,400 BTC of sub-1 BTC inflows.

Binance remains the largest crypto exchange by trading volume. The exchange is no longer serving some EU users after missing the July 1 deadline to secure authorization under Europe’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) framework. Binance withdrew its MiCA application in Greece and has said it remains committed to Europe.

Bitcoin (BTC) traded above $60,000 during Thursday’s European trading hours as traders priced out the prospect of a Federal Reserve interest rate hike in July.

The so-called dovish repricing occurred after Fed Chair Kevin Warsh said inflation risks have eased.

In currency markets, the Japanese yen strengthened to 161.20 per U.S. dollar from its 40-year low of 162.84. The sudden upswing in the yen during European hours triggered rumors that the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may have intervened to support its weakening currency.While the BOJ recently raised its interest rate to 1%, the move failed to halt the yen’s slide, and understandably so. With U.S. interest rates at 3.5%, the dollar remains attractive to investors.

From a crypto perspective, the yen and bitcoin have developed a strong correlation .

Zcash’s Tachyon upgrade aims to scale shielded payments, improve quantum readiness, and test whether its funding, security, and governance can hold.

Disclosure & Polices : CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies . CoinDesk has adopted a set of principles aimed at ensuring the integrity, editorial independence and freedom from bias of its publications. CoinDesk is part of Bullish (NYSE:BLSH), an institutionally focused global digital asset platform that provides market infrastructure and information services. Bullish owns and invests in digital asset businesses and digital assets and CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive Bullish equity-based compensation.

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