Bitcoin steadies near $64,000 as Cardano, Sui and NEAR lead declines

Bitcoin (BTC) recovered part of its earlier losses by the U.S. afternoon, moving back above the $64,000 level, though it remained down about 1% over the previous 24 hours.

The decline was broad across digital assets. Nearly every constituent of the CoinDesk 20 Index, a broad-market benchmark tracking the largest traded digital assets, moved lower, with Sui (SUI), Cardano's ADA and NEAR posting the steepest losses at 3%-4%. Solana (SOL) was down about 2.5%.

Uniswap's UNI, the token of the decentralized exchange, moved against the broader trend, rising 1.5% and standing as the index's only gainer.

Chipmakers and data center stocks fall as Nasdaq hovers near 11-week low

A midday check of traditional markets showed the Nasdaq 100 modestly rebounding after falling in the morning session to its weakest level since early May. The index was still down 0.4% on the day.

Weakness in chipmakers, a bellwether for the artificial intelligence trade, weighed on the technology index. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) fell 2.7% during the session.

The pressure also extended to data center names, with IREN, Cipher Mining (CIFR) and TeraWulf (WULF) each nursing losses of 4%-5%.

The S&P 500 held up better, gaining 0.4% so far on the day. Among digital asset-related equities, crypto-friendly broker Robinhood (HOOD) led declines with a 6% loss. Coinbase (COIN) was down 2%, while bitcoin treasury company Strategy (MSTR) slipped 1%. Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) and tokenization specialist Securitize (SECZ) posted modest gains.

Oil drops after report on possible renewed U.S.-Iran talks

Reuters reported that Pakistan is “exploring a path to resuming U.S.-Iran peace talks.”

The report gave stocks and crypto a slight lift, but its larger impact was in oil markets. WTI crude oil fell 4.3% to $88.25 per barrel.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield pulled back by five basis points to 4.65%.

Strategy's STRC dividend remains in focus

“There’s not a lot of faith in you out there in the business community,” Grama to Worm — Rounders.

Over the past month, Michael Saylor and Strategy have raised the dividend on preferred stock STRC by 50 basis points to 12.0%; increased cash reserves available to pay those dividends to $3.225 billion, enough for nearly two years of payments; and explicitly stated an intention to do whatever it takes, including bitcoin sales, to pay that dividend in perpetuity.

STRC also is the top holding in three leading preferred ETFs, according to a post by Michael Saylor: BlackRock’s PFF, Van Eck’s PFXF and Virtus’ PFFA. Strategy said the three funds together hold more than $750 million in STRC. The post is available at https://x.com/saylor/status/2080671686496551085.

Even so, STRC continued to trade at levels Wall Street might typically describe as highly distressed. At $86, STRC had an effective yield for new buyers of nearly 14%.

With a week left in July, CoinDesk noted that the current price would be consistent with Saylor and Strategy following the pattern of other months by raising STRC’s dividend another 50 basis points to 12.5% in an effort to attract new investment.

Nvidia's Jensen Huang posts on X for the first time, calls for open AI models

“AI will transform every industry, power every company, and be built by every country,” Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in his first official X post, in which he shared an open letter signed by Nvidia and others. The post is available at https://x.com/JensenHuang/status/2080643682408321103.

“Open models strengthen safety and cybersecurity, accelerate innovation and diffusion, and enable sovereignty. The world needs both frontier closed models and frontier open models,” Huang wrote.

Bitcoin falls below $64,000 as stocks give up early gains

U.S. stocks surrendered an early futures gain shortly after Friday's open, with the Nasdaq turning 0.6% lower.

Intel (INTC), which had been up more than 10% at one point Thursday night after reporting second-quarter earnings, was down 4%. Micron fell 6%, and SanDisk declined 7%.

The weakness in the AI momentum trade carried into crypto. Bitcoin, which had nearly reached $66,000 hours earlier, fell to $63,900, down almost 2% over the previous 24 hours. Ether (ETH) was down 3% over the same period.

Strategy releases new bitcoin metrics as investors question the framework

“One integrated view of Strategy’s Bitcoin balance sheet and capital structure,” Michael Saylor wrote after Strategy released a new set of metrics for evaluating company performance. “The MSTR-BTC dashboard brings gross and net reserves, per-share economics, valuation, duration, floor, breakeven, hurdle, yield, and gain into a single framework.” Saylor's post is available at https://x.com/saylor/status/2080384725055635737, and Strategy's post is available at https://x.com/Strategy/status/2080383027499221068.

With bitcoin still described as mired in a bear market and Strategy’s stock down about 80% year over year, the revised metrics drew sharp skepticism.

“More acronyms and made up metrics to confuse and fleece the retail crowd,” one poster wrote. “A masterclass in grift.” The post is available at https://x.com/TravisBiziorek/status/2080386258732523525.

Markets steady in premarket as oil slides and Treasury yields retreat

In Friday premarket trading, the Invesco QQQ edged 0.18% higher, while bitcoin drifted slightly lower near $65,000.

Brent crude fell more than 3% over the previous 24 hours to around $97 a barrel. Gold found modest support above $4,000 an ounce, while U.S. Treasury yields retreated, with the 10-year yield slipping below 4.7%.

Bitcoin ETF outflows end seven-day inflow streak

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds broke a seven-day inflow streak, recording $225.1 million in outflows on Thursday. BlackRock's IBIT accounted for most of the outflows, at $202.5 million. Spot bitcoin ETFs, approved for U.S. trading in January 2024, have become a primary channel for institutional and retail exposure to bitcoin, making their flow trends a closely watched gauge of demand.

CryptoQuant says bitcoin price is being supported by traders, not fresh capital

Demand for bitcoin from long-term holders and institutions is falling quickly, according to CryptoQuant. Speculative activity in the futures market remains positive but is below earlier levels.

CryptoQuant's reading is that bitcoin's price near $65,000 is being held up by traders rather than by new capital entering the market. That type of support tends to reverse more quickly than the long-term accumulation that drove previous uptrends, leaving the current level dependent on shorter-term positioning.

Bitcoin traded near $65,400 on Friday, down 0.6% over the previous 24 hours.

Japan inflation accelerates as 10-year bond yield rises above 2.8%

Japan’s headline inflation rate accelerated to 1.7% year over year in June from 1.5% the previous month, marking its highest level since December. Core inflation, which excludes food and energy, rose to 1.6% from 1.4%.

Both measures remained below the Bank of Japan’s 2% target, where they have been since the beginning of 2026.

Japanese government bonds continued to sell off, pushing the 10-year yield above 2.8%, up more than one percentage point over the previous 24 hours. Rising JGB yields have been a source of pressure across global bond markets this year, as investors assess whether the Bank of Japan will continue normalizing monetary policy.

Strategy's former bitcoin premium erodes to 1.0 mNAV

Strategy’s (MSTR) multiple to net asset value, or mNAV, which once carried a substantial premium, has gradually eroded and now stands at 1.0. The metric divides MSTR’s share price by its net bitcoin per share, indicating whether the stock trades above or below the value of its bitcoin holdings after accounting for debt and preferred-stock claims.

The company’s 843,775 BTC are worth approximately $58.46 billion, broadly equal to its enterprise value. That enterprise value is calculated as the market capitalization of all basic shares outstanding, plus debt and preferred stock, minus its U.S. dollar reserve.

MSTR was trading around $95, down 47% year to date.

Dogecoin and ether lead modest crypto pullback before Fed

Dogecoin fell 4.5% and ether dropped 2.5% on Friday, leading a broad but shallow retreat across major cryptocurrencies as the market consolidated a strong week, according to CoinDesk data. XRP and Solana each slipped about 2.5%, while bitcoin held up better, down 0.6% to around $65,400.

The pullback made only a limited dent in the weekly performance. Bitcoin remained up 3% over seven days, ether was up 1.8%, and most major tokens were still positive for the week. Hyperliquid was the exception, down 3.5%.

There was no single catalyst behind Friday's move, which CoinDesk described as more of a pause after the run-up than a reversal.