Bitcoin barely budged during Asian trading, holding close to $65,400 despite a massive $797 billion drop in major U.S. tech stocks on Thursday. The cryptocurrency slipped less than 1% on the day but managed a 3% gain over the week, showing resilience amid the turmoil.

Other digital assets suffered heavier losses: Ether fell 3% to $1,879, XRP dropped 2% to $1.11, and Solana lost 3% to $76. Dogecoin took the biggest hit, sliding 5% to $0.069. Hyperliquid's HYPE token also declined 4% over the past seven days to $58. Yet, compared to the stock market carnage, these were relatively moderate moves.

What Sparked the Tech Selloff?

The catalyst for the tech rout was earnings reports from Alphabet and Tesla. Alphabet surprised investors by raising its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to as much as $205 billion, signaling heavy investment in AI infrastructure. Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk echoed this, calling 2026 "a massive capex year," while Tesla reported profits well below expectations.

The market reacted sharply: Tesla shares plunged nearly 15%, and Alphabet dropped 7.1%. Both stocks stabilized somewhat after-hours but contributed to the biggest single-day decline for the "Magnificent Seven" megacap tech stocks since April 2025. The group lost 4.8%, erasing $797 billion in market value, dragging the S&P 500 down 1.2% and the Nasdaq 100 by 1.9%. This wiped out $2 trillion from their late-May peak, with the sector now 11% below that record.

Signs of Shifting Dynamics

Investor concerns are mounting that Big Tech's aggressive AI spending might not pay off soon enough to justify the costs, a fear that has also influenced crypto markets this month. Bitcoin’s price movements have been closely tied to chip stocks, acting almost like an AI proxy. However, Thursday’s session showed a possible break in this correlation as AI-driven stocks tumbled but Bitcoin stayed steady.

Bitcoin miners are increasingly pivoting towards AI data center operations. A slowdown in AI spending could eventually impact them, though potentially with a delay. Meanwhile, market pressures intensified with new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on 60 trading partners, including key economies like China, the UK, Japan, and India, with duties ranging from 10% to 12.5%.

Energy markets also added tension as oil prices surged following attacks by Houthi forces on Saudi tankers and the declaration of a naval blockade, stoking inflation worries ahead of next week's Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is widely expected to keep rates unchanged.

Looking ahead, earnings reports from Microsoft and Meta are due next Wednesday, with Apple and Amazon set to follow on Thursday, potentially further influencing tech and crypto sentiment.