Bitcoin Falls Fourth Straight Day as Smart-Contract Coins Weaken
In brief
- Bitcoin fell 2.5% in 24 hours to $62,400, marking fourth straight day of losses
- Smart-contract and DeFi tokens fell harder, with CoinDesk Smart Contract Index down 4%
- Microstrategy's STRC preferred stock collapse below par raises forced bitcoin sale concerns
Losses spread across major tokens
Ether, XRP, and Solana all weakened during the downturn. The sharp losses in smart-contract platforms suggest traders are rotating away from growth-oriented crypto assets into safer positions.
STRC collapse fuels market anxiety
The pressure stems largely from concerns about Microstrategy's preferred stock situation. Strategy, the largest listed BTC holder, has watched its STRC preferred collapse below par, and analysts at Marex say the market is openly pricing the possibility that the company may need to sell coins to defend the structure. This potential forced selling has rattled confidence across the sector.
Mining pressure compounds weakness
Bitcoin has traded under its estimated $78,000 production cost for five straight months, quietly forcing weaker miners to exit. Combined with the Microstrategy uncertainty, these structural sellers are creating downward pressure that was absent just days ago.
Trading volumes tell part of the story. In May, combined exchange volumes fell 3.45% to $4.41 trillion, marking the lowest since September 2024. That said, one segment bucked the trend — RWA perpetual futures volumes rose 10.4% in May, hitting a new all-time high, suggesting some traders are moving into real-world asset derivatives as macro uncertainty persists.
