Crypto markets are in retreat during U.S. morning hours on Thursday, rapidly reversing yesterday's strong gains.
Just under $67,000, bitcoin BTC$68,056.93 has pulled back more than 4% after touching $70,000 late on Wednesday. Ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) are showing similar declines.
The selloff comes alongside a 2% decline in the Nasdaq following Nvidia's (NVDA) earnings last night. While Nvidia didn't disappoint, investors are selling the news after the stock's sizable run higher into the earnings event. NVDA is lower by 4.8%, with related names like Broadcom (AVGO), Micron (MU) and Intel (INTC) also sharply lower.
Curiously, the software names are nicely higher today, with the Software Sector ETF (IGV) ahead more than 2%. Bitcoin's correlation with this embattled group has been well documented, but to BTC bulls' chagrin, they apparently only move together when IGV heads lower.
A check of stocks finds Coinbase (COIN) down 1%, Strategy (MSTR) down 2.3%, and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) down 3%. Outperforming is stablecoin issuer Circle Financial (CRCL), up another 3.3% today, and bringing its two-day post-earnings advance to about 40%.
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Analysis: Block’s retreat to 2019 scale could be a hint of deeper shifts in payments economics
While Jack Dorsey cites AI-enabled productivity gains as the reason for Block's cuts, the deeper shift is in payments plumbing: stablecoin settlement threatens to compress the fee stack that fintech acquirers have relied on for years.
What to know:
Block is slashing its workforce to about 6,000 employees, down nearly 40% from 2023 levels and close to its pre-pandemic size, as investors reward a sharp cost reset.While Jack Dorsey cites AI-enabled efficiency for the cuts, the deeper challenge is that stablecoin-based payment rails threaten to compress the card fees that long powered Block’s growth.As AI “agentic shopping” and regulatory advances make stablecoins more viable for everyday payments, Block faces structural margin pressure even as its stock remains about 80% below its pandemic-era peak.
