Bitcoin rose 1% to about $63,800 on Wednesday, while Asian stock markets suffered one of the worst spells of the year, marking the second time in a 7-day period that the cryptocurrency has weathered a sharp downturn in AI trading.
Ethereum rose 1% to $1899, XRP added 2% to $1.07, BNB climbed to $567, Solana held at $73, and Dogecoin gained. Hyperliquid (HYPE) was the sole major player whose asset fell 3% to $54.
The stock damage was concentrated on chipmakers. South Korea's index fell 11% after an 11% drop on Tuesday, leading to a record 2-day decline for the index. Shares of SK Hynix fell around 17% after reporting a 557% jump in quarterly profit that still fell short of expectations.
On Thursday, Samsung shares were down 12%. The MSCI Asia Pacific index fell 2% to its lowest level since mid-April, and Nasdaq 100 futures declined 1%, extending the year's longest 5-day losing streak for the tech-heavy indicator.
SK Hynix data showed the company's quarterly profit rose more than sixfold, yet its stock plunged nearly one-fifth as expectations for AI demand grew even larger. This is the same doubt that stripped $797,000,000,000 from the biggest U.S. tech stocks last Thursday and has now landed on the memory makers supplying the gear.
Cryptocurrency spent a month moving in lockstep with these stocks, rising when chips rose and falling when they fell. This dependency has been broken twice.
Bitcoin barely weathered the Mag 7 selloff last week and rose this week. Two instances are a pattern worth watching, not a proven breakout, and bitcoin miners remain tethered to AI data center demand, but the correlation that defined July has ceased to hold on the way down.
Bitcoin briefly fell below $63,000 on Monday as the Senate postponed consideration of the Clarity Act market structure bill, whose odds had surged last week on reports President Trump agreed to ethical norms.
Later Wednesday, the Federal Reserve will announce its rate decision, with markets pricing in roughly a 15% chance of a hike. Up next are core PCE inflation and Q2 GDP, plus another round of high-tech earnings.
