Bitcoin shrugs off $800B tech tantrum and a $97 oil tantrum — same $65K, different fear

Bitcoin traded near $65,000 on Friday, holding steady through Asian and European sessions while nearly $800 billion evaporated from the largest U.S. technology stocks and Brent crude surged to its highest level since mid-May. The largest cryptocurrency changed hands around $65,400 in the morning and rose as much as 1.1% from midnight UTC to about $65,760 later in the session, according to CoinDesk data. Ether gained as much as 1.6% to $1,879, while the broader altcoin market split between modest gains and losses.

The Magnificent Seven megacap tech stocks fell 4.8% on Thursday, shedding $797 billion in market value in their worst day since the tariff selloff of April 2025, according to Bloomberg. The drop pulled the S&P 500 down 1.2% and the Nasdaq 100 down 1.9%, leaving the group 11% below its late-May record and erasing roughly $2 trillion from its peak. Bitcoin's decline was less than 1% on the day, putting it up about 3% on the week. The trigger was AI spending: Alphabet raised its capital expenditure forecast to as much as $205 billion this year, and Tesla chief executive Elon Musk called 2026 "a massive capex year" as the company reported profits well below expectations. The moves hardened a worry that Big Tech is investing in artificial-intelligence infrastructure faster than returns can justify, a worry that has moved crypto alongside chip stocks for weeks.

Among major tokens, dogecoin was the weakest performer, falling 5% to $0.069, with its spot price sitting at its lowest since November 2023 after Thursday's slide. XRP lost 2% to $1.11, Solana fell 3% to $76, and Hyperliquid's HYPE slipped 4% over seven sessions to $58, though it edged higher intraday for a second consecutive session. FET and NEAR posted gains of more than 2%, while MORPHO extended one of the more consistent DeFi runs of the month. WLFI, AVAX, HBAR and SUI declined over 24 hours, and Lighter extended its pullback from its July peak to nearly 20%.

Energy markets added a separate pressure point. Brent crude futures reached $97.66 per barrel, the highest since mid-May, as the Iran conflict showed no sign of de-escalation. Previous oil spikes have rattled risk assets, but digital assets held their ground while S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 index futures stayed marginally positive and gold held above $4,000. The Dollar Index edged slightly lower.

Crypto derivatives painted a mixed picture. Aggregate 24-hour volume rose 11% to $165 billion while open interest held steady at around $116 billion, indicating churn rather than fresh positioning. In dogecoin futures, open interest continued climbing toward 16 billion tokens, its highest since October, alongside the falling spot price, a combination described as confirming the downtrend. Ether futures open interest stood at 14.53 million ETH, the highest since June 7, with positive funding rates pointing to bullish sentiment even as a negative 24-hour cumulative volume delta indicated bears were leading via market-order shorts.