Bitcoin Falls Below $80,000 as AI Selloff, Fed Caution Weigh on Risk Assets

Bitcoin slipped below $80,000 on Monday, falling as much as 1.4% to under $79,300 before trading around $80,000 in Asian afternoon hours, as risk-off sentiment ahead of a Federal Reserve meeting and concerns over the artificial intelligence trade pressured cryptocurrencies. The decline followed $772.4 million in withdrawals from US-listed spot Bitcoin ETFs on Thursday and Friday, reversing more than $1 billion of net inflows earlier in the week. Smaller tokens including Ether, XRP and Solana also fell. The pullback tracked a broader market slump as investors questioned heavy AI spending and awaited earnings from tech giants. South Korea's Kospi Index, a bellwether for the AI trade, fell 0.2%, and chip-related stocks led decliners in Japan's Nikkei. "Bitcoin has so far been relatively resilient to the AI debt concerns that are weighing on all risk assets," said Caroline Mauron, co-founder of Orbit Markets. "The market focus is now on the Fed meeting, followed by US midterm elections." Apollo Crypto portfolio manager Pratik Kala said Bitcoin remains in the risk-off basket for many systematic and algorithmic funds, leaving it vulnerable to deteriorating sentiment.