Bitcoin Rises Toward $64,000 as Korea's Record Chip Crash Leaves Crypto Untouched

SK Hynix fell 17% after profit rose 557% and still missed estimates. Bitcoin is up 1%, and the Fed decides rates today.

Bitcoin and major cryptocurrencies inched higher even as Asian equity markets, led by chipmakers, suffered one of their steepest two-day sell-offs of the year.

The sharp drop in SK Hynix and Samsung shares underscored how sky-high expectations for AI-driven demand are being reassessed following a massive run-up in global tech stocks. SK Hynix is the world's leading supplier of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips used in AI accelerators, making it a bellwether for the hardware layer of the artificial intelligence boom.

Bitcoin's resilience through two recent tech routs suggests its tight correlation with AI-linked equities may be weakening, even as regulatory uncertainty and upcoming Federal Reserve and economic data loom over markets.

Crypto Holds Steady Amid Asian Equity Turmoil

Bitcoin climbed 1% to approximately $63,800 on Wednesday while Asian equity markets endured one of their worst stretches of the year — the second time in a seven-day period that crypto has held firm through a sharp unwind in the artificial intelligence trade.

The majors moved in tandem. Ether rose 1% to $1,899, XRP added 2% to $1,07, BNB gained to $567, Solana held at $73, and Dogecoin edged higher. Hyperliquid's HYPE was the only major token in negative territory, down 3% to $54.

Chipmakers Bear the Brunt

The damage in equities was concentrated in chipmakers. South Korea's benchmark index tumbled 11%, following an 11% decline on Tuesday, putting it on course for a record two-day drop.

SK Hynix fell approximately 17% after reporting a 557% surge in quarterly profit that still came in below expectations. Samsung slid 12% ahead of its own earnings release on Thursday. Samsung is also a major HBM supplier and competes directly with SK Hynix for contracts with AI chip designers including NVIDIA.

The MSCI Asia Pacific index dropped 2% to its lowest level since mid-April, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 1%, extending a five-day losing streak for the tech-heavy gauge — its longest of the year.

SK Hynix's results showed the company grew quarterly profit more than sixfold, yet its shares still dropped nearly a fifth because expectations for AI-driven demand had run even higher. That is the same sentiment that erased $797 billion from the largest U.S. technology stocks last Thursday, now arriving in the memory makers that supply the underlying hardware.

Bitcoin–AI Correlation Shows Signs of Weakening

Cryptocurrency markets spent much of July moving in step with technology stocks, rising when chip shares rallied and falling when they slipped. That link has now failed twice in five trading sessions.

Bitcoin barely moved through last week's Magnificent Seven selloff and is trading higher through the current one. Two instances constitute a pattern worth monitoring rather than a proven break, and bitcoin miners remain tied to AI data-center demand. Nonetheless, the correlation that defined July has stopped holding on the way down.

Regulatory and Macro Catalysts Ahead

Bitcoin briefly slipped below $63,000 on Monday after the Senate delayed the Clarity Act, the market structure bill designed to establish clear regulatory boundaries between the SEC and CFTC for digital assets, whose passage odds had jumped the previous week on reports that President Trump agreed to ethics language, before recovering.

The Federal Reserve is scheduled to deliver its rate decision later Wednesday, with markets pricing roughly a 15% probability of an increase. Core PCE inflation data and second-quarter GDP figures will follow, alongside another round of megacap technology earnings reports. Fed rate decisions have historically influenced risk appetite across asset classes, and crypto markets have shown sensitivity to monetary policy shifts in prior cycles.