Bitcoin (BTC) was struggling to stay above $80,000 on Monday, trading at approximately $79,700 and on pace to close at its weakest level since mid-September.
The roughly 0.8% decline over the preceding 24 hours followed a weekend selloff, placing digital assets squarely in the crosshairs of broader market turbulence driven by mounting anxiety over artificial intelligence valuations.
Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NASDAQ: BMNR) Chairman Tom Lee argued that the pressure on crypto is not sector-specific but reflects a wider investor retreat from risk assets.
“Crypto got pulled down by the same ‘risk off’ forces behind the AI sell-off,” Lee said, adding that “in contrast to late-2025 and early 2026, crypto pullbacks have been comparatively shallow.”
Lee characterized the relatively muted drawdown as “further evidence” that a crypto bull market remains intact, pointing to Ethereum’s nearly 50% advance since July as a key data point.
That gain stands in sharp contrast to the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), which fell 20% over the same period, underscoring the diverging fortunes between digital assets and traditional technology hardware plays.
AI-linked stocks have faced intense selling pressure this month as investors scrutinize the heavy debt loads companies are accumulating to build out data center infrastructure, with Coreweave (CRWV), Nebius (NBIS), and Iren (IREN) among the worst affected.
Those three names did recover somewhat in midday trade after Elon Musk warned that more than 200 “neocloud” companies are likely to face failure or consolidation, a remark that paradoxically steadied sentiment.
Against that backdrop, two companies pressed ahead with crypto treasury expansion: Strive (NYSE: ASST) acquired 6,182 Bitcoin last week, lifting its total holdings to roughly 43,000 BTC.
Bitmine, meanwhile, added 10,452 Ethereum to its treasury, which now stands at 6.05 million ETH total, continuing a streak of weekly ETH purchases that has held since the company first launched its digital asset strategy.
Bitmine also sustained its share repurchase program, buying back 2.04 million common shares at an average price of $22.48 during the week, bringing its year-to-date buyback total to 22.9 million shares worth approximately $399.6 million.
Strategy (NASDAQ: MSTR), by contrast, reported no Bitcoin acquisitions for the week, instead deploying $204.9 million into purchases of its own STRC preferred stock.
BMNR shares slid more than 4% in midday trading, with retail sentiment on Stocktwits tilting into bearish territory, while ASST dropped nearly 6% though its investor community sentiment held in the bullish zone.
MSTR fell approximately 2.8% on the session, with retail mood on Stocktwits registering as “extremely bearish,” reflecting unease over the company’s pause in Bitcoin accumulation at a moment when prices are testing key support levels.
