Bitcoin Crashes Below $62,000 as ETF Outflows and Strategy Sale Rattle Markets

Bitcoin tumbled to its lowest price in months on Wednesday night, briefly crashing below $62,000 and erasing weeks of recovery gains. The selloff, which exceeded 8% in 24 hours, was driven by a convergence of institutional selling, forced liquidations, and a symbolic but jarring Bitcoin sale by Michael Saylor's Strategy. As of Thursday morning, BTC was trading near $63,649, down more than 13% on the week and roughly 50% below its October 2025 all-time high of $128,198.

Three forces accelerated the decline. U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded a record 11-day outflow streak, shedding approximately $3.45 billion in total, with a single recent session accounting for $1.42 billion in withdrawals alone. Strategy disclosed it sold 32 BTC for about $2.5 million to cover preferred stock dividend obligations, its first disposal since 2022. The move unsettled investors who had long treated the company as an unconditional buyer. On June 2, wallets linked to the defunct Mt. Gox exchange moved more than 10,000 BTC worth roughly $739 million, reigniting fears of creditor selling ahead of the exchange's October 2026 repayment deadline.

CFTC Greenlights Coinbase for Crypto Perpetual Futures

In a separate development, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission cleared Coinbase to offer crypto perpetual futures, making it the first U.S. exchange granted access to the offshore derivatives market. The domestic exchange will connect American customers directly to Deribit, an offshore crypto options platform Coinbase acquired last year for $2.9 billion. The CFTC has broadly cleared Coinbase to list any digital commodity perpetual contracts currently traded on Deribit, a category covering major tokens like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana. In a simultaneous move, the regulator also authorized prediction market Kalshi to launch the first American-born Bitcoin perpetual futures.

On the regulatory front, the Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the CLARITY Act, the first wide-ranging piece of cryptocurrency legislation to clear the panel. The bill, championed by firms including Coinbase, Circle, and Ripple, is designed to settle the long-running jurisdictional dispute between the SEC and the CFTC by outlining which agency oversees different parts of the crypto market. Committee Chair Tim Scott called the legislation essential to provide guidance and clear standards for the industry. The bill still faces opposition from banking groups and law enforcement agencies before it can clear the full Senate and head to President Trump for signature.