Live updates: Bitcoin bounces, HYPE falls, NEAR gets demolished as crypto deals with a wipe out

Amid the crypto price crash, a handful of tokens have been performing well, but they're tumbling now as Arthur Hayes exits.

"The launch of preferred equity securities for Strategy has been a royal failure for all parties involved except for the bankers and middlemen who benefit from issuance volumes and transaction activity," wrote Quinn Thompson, CIO at Lekkar Capital.

In one of the more curiously-timed offerings ever seen in capital markets, Tom Lee's Bitmine (BMNR) Wednesday evening filed to sell up to $300 million in preferred shares modeled on Strategy's embattled STRC preferred stock.

"Every single tranche of preferred equity sold by Strategy has lost buyers money," Thompson continued. "Their launch of preferred stock has put a 4%+ annual dilution burden on common stockholders and cost MSTR the most out of any security. Not only that, but it hasn't even helped the price of bitcoin which is down nearly -50% since the launch of STRC."

"The market is clearly saying these decisions have been resounding failures, incinerating billions in capital, that borderline corporate neglect and malfeasance," Thompson concluded. "Why in the world would you pursue the same failed strategy Tom Lee?"

Tech investors are giving crypto traders another lesson in how to buy the dip.

What was earlier looking like a big decline in the Nasdaq on Thursday has reversed in afternoon trade. A bit more than an hour before the close, the tech-heavy gauge is higher by 0.2% after being down as much as 1.3%.

Behind the decline was a slump in AI-related names after Broadcom (AVGO) results and guidance disappointed last night. While AVGO remains lower by 13%, big gains from Nvidia (NVDA), Google (GOOG), and Oracle (ORCL), among others, are pushing the Nasdaq into positive territory.

Bitcoin (BTC) is off its worst levels, but remains lower by 3% over the past 24 hours at $63,900. Ether (ETH) is down a similar amount at $1,776.

Asset management giant Fidelity says its customers with as little as $2,000 in their brokerage account will be able to place buy orders for shares in the SpaceX (SPCX) IPO at the (currently proposed) $135 offering price.

In doing so, Fidelity is coming close to upstart competitors like Robinhood, SoFi, and E*Trade, who do not require account minimums.

Fidelity usually requires clients to have at least $500,000 in their accounts to access IPOs, according to Barron's.

Quantinuum (QNT) opened for trading at $68 per share after raising $1.68 billion in an IPO Wednesday evening. The company would be valued at about $17.6 billion at that price.

The IPO was priced at $60 per share, higher than an earlier range of $53-$55, according to CNBC.

"We have customers today that are using our commercially available hardware and software, our full stack, to get started with their quantum journey," CEO Rajeeb Hazra told CNBC.

Michael Saylor's decision to sell a small amount of bitcoin (BTC) has drawn plenty of criticism this week, but there might be a silver lining.

Zach Pandl, head of research at asset manager Grayscale, argues that bitcoin could benefit from having fewer coins concentrated on the balance sheets of leveraged treasury companies and more spread across corporations and institutions with diverse business models.

Path to that, however, remains the biggest challenge.

Investors got accustomed to Strategy being one of the market's largest and most consistent sources of demand for years. But that accumulation model is starting to face constraints, says Pandl. At current prices for Strategy (MSTR) and its preferred shares, the company may have less flexibility to keep buying bitcoin at the pace investors have come to expect.

"Other buyers will need to step in for bitcoin's price to find a sustainable bottom," Pandl says.

Grayscale still expects bitcoin to recover in the coming months, though it may continue to lag parts of the crypto market that stand to benefit more directly from improving regulatory clarity.

Bullish CEO Tom Farley said bitcoin's recent decline reflects a familiar pattern for the crypto market, while arguing that long-term adoption of blockchain technology remains intact.

Speaking on CNBC on Thursday, Farley said bitcoin's 27% drop this year has pulled attention away from the broader digital assets market, but he remains optimistic about the sector's future. Bullish, the owner of CoinDesk, holds about 25,000 bitcoin on its balance sheet.

Farley said investor interest may be shifting toward other opportunities, including anticipated initial public offerings such as SpaceX and growing enthusiasm around artificial intelligence companies. "Money and attention" have moved to other sectors, he said.

Looking beyond crypto prices, Farley urged lawmakers to advance the Clarity Act, legislation aimed at establishing rules for digital assets in the U.S. He pointed to recent bipartisan support for the bill and warned that the current political window for passing crypto legislation may be limited.

"We absolutely need the Clarity Act," Farley said, calling for the industry to rally behind the proposal.

Crypto-linked stocks are trading higher on Thursday, with crypto platforms Bullish (BLSH), which owns CoinDesk, and Gemini (GEMI) leading the sector. Shares of Bullish and Gemini were each up about 4% in morning trading, while Coinbase (COIN) and Robinhood (HOOD) also posted gains. The move came as bitcoin managed to climb back to $64,000 after nearly falling through $60,000 overnight.

The gains, though, are rather meek considering the carnage in crypto names in recent sessions. BLSH, for instance, remains 19% lower over the past five days, while Gemini is down 10%.

Galaxy Digital (GLXY) is down about 3% on Friday despite favorable news about its Helios data center campus in Texas.

Earlier this week, the ERCOT board approved eligibility rules for Batch Zero, a key step in the transition to a new framework for connecting large power users to the Texas grid. In a post on X, Galaxy head of investor relations Jonathan Goldowsky said the change could provide greater clarity on the status of additional power under study at Helios when ERCOT issues project classifications on Aug. 7. Galaxy already has 1.63 gigawatts of approved grid capacity at the site, which the company says is among the largest front-of-the-meter data center campuses in North America. Despite the development, investors appeared to take profits in the stock on Thursday.

Bitcoin (BTC) has bounced to $64,200 in mid-morning U.S. trade, higher by about $3,000 or 5% from the worst of the overnight lows.

Headlines about 50% of all bitcoin in circulation being held at a loss, and Strategy (MSTR) being down about $12 billion on its bitcoin holdings, or freakouts by Davey Day Trader all suggest it might be time for well-fed bears to cover some shorts.

Strategy's high-yielding preferred stock STRC — which tumbled all the way back to $94 on Wednesday — is higher by 1.6% today to $96.15. STRC has become important to follow. With more than $15 billion issued, it's costing Strategy nearly $1.8 billion annually in dividends (at the current 11.5% rate).

It's for this reason that Michael Saylor and team tested the waters with the sale of 32 bitcoin last week. Markets then quickly assessed that the company might need to sell thousands or tens of thousands more BTC over time to fund dividends.

MSTR common stock is higher by 3.4% today.

Broadcom (AVGO) shares plunged about 15% in pre-market trading on Thursday, after its earnings and AI outlook failed to clear investors' lofty expectations, sparking a broader selloff across semiconductor stocks.

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell roughly 4%, Micron Technology (MU) dropped about 5%, while Nvidia (NVDA), Marvell Technology (MRVL) and Intel (INTC) also traded lower.

The weakness comes after semiconductor stocks have been on a strong run in recent weeks, fueled by optimism around AI infrastructure capex spending and robust earnings from several chipmakers.

Broadcom's results show that investors are demanding not just strong growth, but consistently rising guidance.

The weakness is spilling over into former bitcoin miners that have moved into AI infrastructure, with Hut 8 (HUT), IREN (IREN) and Cipher Mining (CIFR) all down about 5% in premarket trading.

The Nasdaq was down around 1%, while the S&P 500 was little changed.

More to come on this, but bitcoin has interestingly turned higher as the AI trade stumbles, climbing back to $63,600, or nearly 4% above its overnight low.

Friday will bring the U.S. government's employment report for May, which could help set the course of interest rates coming forward.

Ahead of that number, weekly initial jobless claims — released minutes ago — unexpectedly rose to 225,000 versus 212,000 the previous week and 213,000 forecast.

It's the highest level of claims in three months, but still within a range that suggests a healthy jobs market.

For tomorrow's report, economists expect just 85,000 jobs to have been added in May, but the unemployment rate to remain steady at 4.3%.

The 10-year Treasury yield is lower by 4 basis points on Thursday to 4.46%.

Anything in crypto related to AI or the coming mega-IPOs has been performing well, even during this week's crypto crash.

Well-followed Arthur Hayes, though, has seen enough for at least two of those tokens.

"I just dumped my entire HYPE and NEAR position," said Hayes overnight.

Among his reasons: higher energy prices, the coming IPOs (capital draw), Trump going "anti-AI" ahead of the mid-terms.

Hayes, however, is sticking with his long in Worldcoin's WLD. "The SpaceX IPO is going to melt people’s faces off," said Hayes. "Holding WLD through the listing next week."

HYPE is lower by 8%, NEAR is down 16%. Despite Hayes' endorsement, WLD is lower by 7%.

The panicky action got more so overnight, with bitcoin (BTC) careening to as low as $61,400 before quickly bouncing back to $64,000.

Ahead of the open of U.S. stocks, bitcoin is headed lower again, currently trading at $62,400, down 7% over the past 24 hours.

At the center of the plunge, Strategy Executive Chairman Michael Saylor has spoken. "Capital markets are funding the AI buildout at historic scale: ~$400B over 6 months," Saylor posted to X minutes ago. "Bitcoin ETFs have seen ~$4B of outflows since May 14, pressuring BTC," he continued.

"This is a capital rotation, not a Bitcoin impairment. Volatility creates opportunity," Saylor concluded.

His comments echoed much of the conventional wisdom surrounding crypto's general price struggles in recent months, which have become particularly acute this week after Strategy sold some of its bitcoin.

MSTR shares are lower 1.8% premarket.

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The Pre-IPO Perpetuals Category Takes Shape

The Pre-IPO Perpetuals Category Takes Shape

Binance launched Pre-IPO perpetuals May 21. Within days, it captured >60% category share; cumulative volume now ~$400M, with SPACEX dominating at 79%.

Binance launched Pre-IPO perpetuals May 21. Within days, it captured >60% category share; cumulative volume now ~$400M, with SPACEX dominating at 79%.

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