Bitcoin climbs back above $83,000 as Asian chip stocks slide
Bitcoin climbed back above $83,000 on Tuesday, recovering from an early slide that took it to just under $81,000 at 00:50 UTC, according to CoinDesk data. The rebound came even as a sharp selloff in Asian chip stocks and US tech futures weighed on risk appetite more broadly.
South Korea's KOSPI plunged more than 6% intraday, falling below 6,000 to its lowest level since late July, and remained down roughly 6% in morning trade. Chipmakers led the decline, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each dropping around 8% and extending their losing streaks to five sessions. Concerns over AI-related valuations and rising competition from Chinese memory-chip producers weighed on the sector. Hong Kong's Hang Seng slipped 0.4%, while Nasdaq futures fell 0.6%, extending Monday's 0.78% decline in the tech-heavy index.
Other major tokens followed a similar pattern to bitcoin. Ether bounced from five-day lows, XRP turned higher after touching three-week lows, and Zcash and solana moved in line with the broader market, according to CoinDesk data.
In energy markets, WTI crude traded near $92.67, holding most of Monday's sharp recovery from below $90, while Brent hovered around $106 a barrel after a three-day rally as traders weighed potential supply disruptions against expectations of additional Russian diesel exports. Fresh attacks in Saudi Arabia and continued threats to shipping through the Strait of Hormuz have kept energy-market uncertainty elevated. Higher oil raises inflation risks, which the source material describes as strengthening the case for Fed rate hikes, a headwind for crypto. The Dollar Index held near 102.50, its highest since April last year.
Crypto traders are now looking to Thursday's US consumer price index report as the next major catalyst. Paul Howard, senior director at market-making firm Wincent, said he expects institutional investors to add protection through derivatives and hedging strategies rather than materially reduce their underlying crypto exposure. "This is typically how committed institutional participants manage periods of heightened risk: maintaining their core positions while using derivatives to protect against downside and continuing to treat cryptocurrencies as an asset class capable of generating returns," he said.
