Bitcoin price has stepped off a cliff, and we are free-falling. So, congrats bears!
Just in a single session, Bitcoin tumbled by 8% to $70,000 level, dragging the Ethereum price down to under $2,100. As cruel as it is to us, this likely happens because of the wobbling global tech stocks. Liquidity is thinning out, and the Nasdaq had just wrapped up a bruising two-day rout. Crypto has not decouple itself from equity yet this cycle.
Bitcoin price is now flirting with levels last seen in November 2024, while Ethereum looks even shakier thanks to underwhelming ETF inflows and crowded leverage.
Now, is the next pump just a dead cat bounce if it comes, or is this really the crypto bottom? But knock knock rock lovers, precious metals aren’t doing any better.
Bitcoin Price Under Pressure and Puts People on The Street
From a technical angle, Bitcoin price turned decisively bearish once it lost the $71,000 support zone. Sellers are taking control, and miners are stopping their operations. Block times stretched toward 20 minutes, squeezing profitability and putting stress as more than $700 million in long leveraged positions were liquidated, ripping off a financial bandage in just a single violent move.
Fear is loud right now, and as usual, we get another Tether and Binance FUD. USDT briefly slipped to “$0.998,” and bears say it’s depegging. Good joke when nothing is interesting, right?
BREAKING: Tether tumbles to $0.9980, its weakest peg in over 5 years. Some analysts warn a full untethering could hit soon, which could cripple the crypto market, as 87%+ of trading volume flows through USDT. pic.twitter.com/X1eUwFH4Qs
— SwanDesk (@SwanDesk) February 5, 2026
Then there is renewed talk around Brock Pierce, helping the bears to exceed their target. But wait, history also has a sense of humor. In prior cycles, these moments of panic lined up well with local Bitcoin price bottoms, once equity markets stopped bleeding.
Multicoin Capital co-founder Kyle Samani stepping away to focus on AI and robotics fueled speculation about capital rotating out of crypto. Then, the NexFundAI wash-trading scandal, which led to charges against 15 entities, took another hit.
0/ A personal update
I have decided to step back from @multicoin. It's a bittersweet moment for me because my time at Multicoin has been some of the most meaningful and rewarding of my life. That said, I am excited to take some time off and explore new areas of technology.…
— Kyle Samani (@KyleSamani) February 4, 2026
Another bearish news comes from Bhutan, the country reportedly shifted about $22 million worth of Bitcoin to exchanges during the dip. Bhutan’s decision comes while political heat rose, US lawmakers probed crypto ties linked to World Liberty Financial and a $500 million UAE stake.
If You’re In It to Get Rich, You’ve Already Lost – Charles Hoskinson of Cardano
DISCOVER: 10+ Next Crypto to 100X In 2026
Ethereum Price Lose Footing
Ethereum broke below $2,100 price level before staging a bounce above, if we call it a bounce. More than $210 million in ETH positions were liquidated as long positions keep being butchered.
In this environment, the Ethereum Price needs a real catalyst, or maybe more, to reclaim momentum. The FUD around Vitalik’s selling is just not helping. If this were my opinion piece, I’d say it’s baseless.
Vitalik sold 34.091 ETH ($76.29k)
— shah (@shahh) February 4, 2026
If the tech selloff drags on, though, bearish scenarios can further push the Bitcoin price to $60,000 and Ethereum closer to $1,800. We talked about it yesterday, the Ethereum price bottom range is at $1,800 at its lowest, according to me.
Now, on the flip side, flushed leverage historically set the stage for rebounds. Some optimists are already eyeing $90,000 for Bitcoin. Mining difficulty is expected to drop around 14%, easing pressure and potentially restoring hashpower, as it is not looking good for miners.
(source – Blockchain)
Stablecoin negotiations with banks could also calm regulatory nerves. For now, crypto remains tightly correlated with equities, but it could decouple anytime. If you are in love with crypto and want to stay, DCA is the best bet. Again, this is not financial advice.
DISCOVER:
- 16+ New and Upcoming Binance Listings in 2026
- 99Bitcoins’ Q4 2025 State of Crypto Market Report
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Growing In The Chaos: Tether USDT Adds 35.2M Users in Q4
Despite the market being literally a red sea, with BTC hovering around $71K and sentiment locked in extreme fear, Tether USDT continues to flex hard. In Q4 2025 (October–December), the issuer released its latest BDO-verified attestation, showing USDT hitting record highs even as altcoins bled and the October 10 liquidation cascade wiped out over a third of total crypto value.
Tether reported that its USDT stablecoin added 35.2 million new users in the fourth quarter.
What can we extrapolate from this information? A simple conclusion is that users and liquidity are not completely leaving crypto: they are shifting toward stablecoins as traders try to catch a potential market bottom. And USDT is the favourite choice.
USD₮ Q4 2025 Market Report
Learn more: https://t.co/xKzGkGTr4k— Tether (@tether) February 4, 2026
Read our full coverage here.
Crypto Today: CME Group Plans ‘CME Coin’ as BTC USD Tumbles
While the market is burning and prices are in freefall, a bullish piece of news comes: CME Group hints at launching its own ‘CME Coin’ to go along with last year’s announcement of a “tokenized cash” coin with Google Cloud to use as collateral in crypto derivatives. In crypto today, any positive news is welcome as the Bitcoin
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price slips closer to $70,000 with no end seemingly in sight.
Even with the market-wide crypto crash, this is evidence that institutions are still pushing deeper into crypto infrastructure rather than chasing short-term price moves.
LATEST:
CME Group is developing its own tokenized cash coin set to launch in 2026, with CEO Terry Duffy saying it could operate on a decentralized network for people to use as crypto collateral. pic.twitter.com/nhvn8HXYWH
— CoinMarketCap (@CoinMarketCap) February 5, 2026
Read the full story here.
South Africa Launches ZARU Stablecoin: Why Local Money on Crypto Rails Matters
Are stablecoins one of the biggest blockchain use cases? It appears so. While crypto traders are high on “hopium,” expecting the best out of the current bear market, big moves are being made in South Africa.
For years, South Africa has been at the forefront of innovation. Not only is it a tech heavyweight leading the pack in Africa, but the country has consistently remained open to crypto. With over $300Bn in stablecoin tokenized across multiple chains, mostly Ethereum and Solana, South Africa is yet again showing the way for the continent.
(Source: Coingecko)
Earlier this week, South African firms Luno, Sanlam, EasyEquities, and Lesaka launched ZARU, a stablecoin backed one-to-one by the South African rand.
Read more about it here.
Serious $50K Bitcoin Warning Rattles Market as Crash Fears Grow
Clearly, it is a rough day on the charts. Bitcoin, Ethereum, and most of the top 10 assets are in the red, extending losses from the end of 2025. Whether this state of affairs will continue remains to be seen.
What’s evident, however, is that the Bitcoin price is dropping so fast and by so much that gains from late 2024 have been completely reversed. There are now concerns that the BTC USD price could sink below today’s lows toward $50,000, a key psychological support level.
This possibility alone would be a massive blow to the industry, likely wiping out tens of billions of dollars worth of leveraged bets. Thus far, as the Bitcoin price tanked towards the $70,000 level, over $850M in leveraged trades were liquidated on multiple exchanges, mostly Binance, Bybit, and Hyperliquid.
(Source: Coinglass)
These liquidations affected more than 175,000 traders across these platforms. A big chunk of these liquidations was Bitcoin and Ethereum longs.
Bhutan Keeps Selling BTC USD: Will Crypto Recover in 2026?
Bhutan, a tiny South Asian country, reportedly sold about $22.4 million worth of Bitcoin this week, extending a quiet but steady pattern of state-level BTC USD selling. With the Bitcoin price now trading dangerously close to $70,000, many are left wondering whether crypto will recover in 2026.
Arkham Intelligence data has shown that Bhutan has been selling Bitcoin
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accrued from mining activities in $50M clips since September 2025, and with its latest sales, the nation still holds $405M in BTC at current prices of $71,100.
Bhutan is selling Bitcoin. pic.twitter.com/WDuUQmBZsU
— Arkham (@arkham) February 4, 2026
This mix of falling prices and sovereign nations selling can feel scary. Bhutan’s sale of its stake, while significant, doesn’t compare to the US, China, and the UK, which hold far more BTC than Bhutan, and if they began selling, the Bitcoin price would likely crash even harder.
The Fear and Greed Index is currently sitting at 12/100, right in the depths of ‘Extreme Fear’ and underscores current market sentiment as traders like you and I wait for a local bottom to form and better days to come.
Read the full story here.
Tom Lee Defends BitMine’s $6B ETH Loss
These are hard times for crypto holders as Bitcoin keeps falling again and again, now hitting a new yearly low at $70,500. Ethereum is also following the same path, briefly trading below $2,100. A company that went full ETH maxi is now watching losses pile up. Tom Lee’s ETH exposure hit BitMine stock, with BMNR sliding alongside ETH and leaving about $6 billion in paper losses.
Remember Tom lee?
he bought ETH at 4k, now he’s down $6,700,000,000 (-43.04%) on $ETH holdings. pic.twitter.com/RWcLi4JiTO
— hødl (@hodl_strong) February 2, 2026
By late 2024, the company transitioned from a traditional mining firm into an “ETH treasury” strategy, adopting a philosophy they call the “Alchemy of 5%.” Their goal is to eventually own 5% of the total Ethereum supply.
BitMine is not the only company to take this path. After spot Ethereum ETFs won approval in 2024, large institutions poured more than $10 billion into regulated ETH products. Now, those same companies are facing real pressure as prices continue to plummet, especially after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent made it clear that banks will not bail out crypto-linked firms.
Read the full story here.
Hyperliquid Treasury Eyes Yield by Using HYPE as Options Collateral
Public companies are not just assessing crypto potential; they are buying in. Since the approval of spot ETFs in 2024 and throughout 2025, multiple firms in the US have been actively purchasing and adding top cryptos to their balance sheets.
Strategy, formerly MicroStrategy, is well known for its Bitcoin holding plans. They now hold over $50Bn of the digital gold. Though they might be under pressure now that their Bitcoin cost basis is higher than spot rates, they are not capitulating and are inspiring other firms.
Unlike Bitcoin, holding HYPE or ETH and staking them translates to consistent yearly or monthly revenue. It is a strategy that Hyperion DeFi, a public firm trading on the Nasdaq (HYPD), is tapping into to boost revenue. At press time, HYPE is one of the top performers, up nearly +3% in the last 24 hours.
Read the full story here.
The post Crypto Market News Today, February 5: I Am Free, Freefalling! 8% Drop in Bitcoin and Ethereum Price appeared first on 99Bitcoins.
