Bitcoin Trades Below $82,000 as AI Credit Worries Trigger $635M ETF Outflows

Bitcoin traded under $82,000 heading into US equity trading on Friday following a drop of more than 3% during the previous session ¹. The benchmark cryptocurrency fell to an intraday low of $80,840 on Bitstamp on Thursday ¹. At the time of writing, $BTC changed hands around $81,634.

Institutional capital pulled back sharply alongside the spot price decline ¹. US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $635 million in net outflows on Thursday, marking the largest single-day withdrawal for the vehicles since late June ¹. Derivative liquidations totaled $336 million across digital asset markets over a 24-hour window, with long positions accounting for $281 million of that volume ¹.

Tech Spending Scrutiny Weighs on Risk Assets

The broader retreat coincided with heightened market scrutiny over financing costs in the artificial intelligence sector ¹. Neocloud infrastructure provider CoreWeave dropped 15.5% week to date through Thursday to reach its lowest share price since May 2025, pressured by a Bernstein price target cut from $74 to $51 ¹. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang noted in an interview with CNBC that capital scarcity is constraining infrastructure expansion, stating that capital demand substantially outpaces market availability ¹.

Trading firm QCP Capital observed that spreading credit stress across neocloud providers triggered broader equity weakness as investors reevaluate spending commitments and profitability across tech firms ¹. The contagion also showed in international markets, where South Korea's KOSPI Composite Index dropped to 5,305 points on Friday morning before recovering to close up 0.3% ¹. QCP Capital noted that lower-than-expected capital expenditure figures from Tesla had already heightened concerns that expensive financing could slow the expansion of capital-intensive projects ¹.