Bitcoin briefly crashed to $79,000 on Thursday, losing more than 8% in four days and dealing a heavy blow to the October rally hopes that traders often label Uptober.

• Ethereum (ETH), XRP, and Solana (SOL) suffered even steeper losses, with traders bracing for more volatility ahead of Saturday's one-year anniversary of the October 10, 2025 flash crash.
• U.S. stocks fell as expensive oil and a technology selloff dragged the Nasdaq down 1.2% and the S&P 500 down 0.6%.
• Oil prices surged 4% amid President Donald Trump's Iran war threats, while Treasury yields eased after hitting 24-year highs.

Mining and AI-linked stocks lead crypto equity losses

Bitcoin mining companies were hit hard on Thursday, and the damage went well beyond the cryptocurrency's latest price slump. Investors were also pulling money out of businesses that have spent heavily on artificial intelligence infrastructure, following fresh questions about OpenAI's financial performance.

A Financial Times report suggested that OpenAI's revenue, measured at its current yearly pace, is roughly $20 billion below earlier indications. That added pressure to mining firms trying to build a second business around AI computing and data centers.

These companies need enormous amounts of capital to build facilities, buy equipment, and secure electricity. With questions now hanging over AI revenue expectations, their shares suffered some of the day's biggest losses across the cryptocurrency industry. The selloff underscores how the investment case for listed miners has broadened: firms once valued chiefly as proxies for Bitcoin production now also court investors with AI computing plans, leaving their shares exposed to sentiment in two sectors at once.

Cipher Digital (CIFR) and Hut 8 (HUT) each surrendered 10%, while TeraWulf (WULF) traded 8% lower. Riot Platforms (RIOT) lost even more, falling 11%. The company announced a computing infrastructure partnership with Anthropic earlier this year as part of its expansion beyond traditional Bitcoin mining.

Companies whose operations remain more closely tied to mining Bitcoin did not escape the selling either. MARA Holdings (MARA) shed 6%, while CleanSpark (CLSK) fell 9%. Elsewhere, cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase (COIN) and Bitcoin-heavy corporate investor Strategy (MSTR) each declined approximately 3%.

Fed official warns more rate increases may be needed

The pressure on these stocks came at a particularly difficult time for businesses that depend on cheap financing. Federal Reserve officials have increasingly talked about raising borrowing costs again, largely because expensive energy could keep inflation elevated.

St. Louis Federal Reserve President Alberto Musalem added his voice to those warnings on Thursday. Musalem said the central bank needs to prevent higher fuel costs from spreading into other parts of the economy, and pointed to continued consumer demand and disruptions to the supply of goods as risks that could make inflation harder to control.

He said additional increases in the Fed's benchmark interest rate would be necessary to bring inflation down within a reasonable period. However, Musalem did not put a number on how much further rates might rise. His outlook instead covers approximately 18 months, during which he expects policymakers to work toward restoring inflation to the Fed's 2% target. The benchmark rate matters well beyond traditional finance: it helps determine the yields available on safe assets such as Treasurys, which in turn shapes how much appetite investors have for volatile holdings that generate no cash flow, a category that includes Bitcoin.

Bitcoin at one-month low as altcoins fall harder

Bitcoin (BTC) had a rough Thursday. What started as a small drop earlier in the day turned into a much bigger selloff, sending the cryptocurrency to its lowest level in about a month Bitcoin was last trading around $81,362, after briefly slipping to just above $80,000 and touching $79,000.

The original cryptocurrency has lost 4% in the past 24 hours and more than 8% since approaching $87,000 four days ago. Even so, Bitcoin is still holding up better than most of the crypto market, a pattern consistent with its role as the largest and most liquid asset in the space, where capital tends to shelter first during broad drawdowns.

Ethereum and XRP each declined 6% over the last 24 hours, while Solana lost 9%. All three have shed between 10% and 38% of their value over the past seven days, despite October's reputation as a favorable month for cryptocurrencies.

Saturday marks the one-year anniversary of the crypto flash crash of October 10, 2025, one of the worst crashes to hit the market. At the time, Bitcoin had just peaked above $126,000. The coin dropped from about $122,000 to $105,000 within minutes during thin evening trading in the United States. The episode remains a reference point for how far prices can gap when liquidity thins, which is one reason traders are watching this weekend's date closely.

Oil surge, Iran tensions weigh on Wall Street

Wall Street also traded lower on Thursday, with rising oil prices and weakness in technology stocks putting pressure on equities. The S&P 500 lost 0.6%, the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite fell 1.2%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 67 points, or 0.1%.

Meanwhile, the war involving Iran made an already difficult trading session even more complicated. President Donald Trump said he was not interested in reaching an agreement with Iran to end the war, as reports emerged that Washington was preparing a major bombing campaign in the Middle East.

Those developments pushed crude prices sharply higher before Trump said the United States would not strike Iran ahead of November's midterm elections. Oil pulled back from its session highs following those remarks, although prices remained substantially higher.

Brent crude was trading at about $104 per barrel, up 4%, while the West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures contract gained 4% to about $91.

The 10-year and 30-year U.S. Treasury yields had hit their highest levels in 24 years this week, adding pressure on investors already facing high energy costs and declining asset prices. Yields have since cooled following the government's sale of 30-year bonds. The 10-year Treasury yield fell more than 3 basis points to 5.244%, and the 30-year yield declined 4 basis points to 5.621%. At these levels, Treasury yields set a nearly risk-free return that volatile assets — from growth stocks to crypto — must compete against, a key reason investors track them alongside the Fed debate.

What to know

Bitcoin's sudden plunge has rattled the crypto market as Wall Street struggles with rising oil prices, tensions with Iran, and historically high bond yields. With the flash crash anniversary on Saturday, Fed officials' comments on rates in focus, and the Iran situation still developing, the market heads into the weekend with several open threads to watch.