On Feb. 5, on-chain data cited by CryptoQuant showed cryptocurrency investors locking in $3.2 billion in realized losses within 24 hours, placing the sell-off among Bitcoin's top 3–5 historical loss events. The downturn follows a week of average daily realized losses of $2.3 billion and comes as Standard Chartered warns Bitcoin could fall toward $50,000 and Ether to $1,400 amid a weakening macro backdrop.

On Thursday, Monness, Crespi, Hardt issued a rare double downgrade on Coinbase Global Inc., cutting the leading U.S. crypto exchange's stock directly from "Buy" to "Sell." The firm expects prolonged crypto market weakness to persist for more than a year and has lowered its forecasts for Coinbase's revenue, EBITDA and EPS, even after the share price has already fallen about 50%. Additional downgrades and reduced price targets from other Wall Street analysts have deepened concerns over Coinbase's valuation and future performance.

Gold proponent and long-time Bitcoin critic Peter Schiff forecasts that Bitcoin could drop toward $10,000 and suspects that support at that price may not hold. He also argues that MicroStrategy would struggle if Bitcoin fell to $8,000 over the next four years and criticizes major financial TV networks for what he views as overly bullish Bitcoin coverage.

Bitcoin briefly rallied around 13:30 after the Bureau of Labor Statistics released its delayed January jobs report, touching roughly $67,400 before easing. The NFP showed 130,000 jobs added versus a 65,000–75,000 consensus, and unemployment dipped to 4.3%. A separate benchmark revision removed 898,000 jobs between April 2024 and March 2025.

BitMEX Research has outlined a post-quantum recovery plan for Bitcoin that would address coins held in legacy addresses at risk from quantum attacks. The proposal suggests a potential soft fork to freeze vulnerable funds, paired with quantum-safe recovery transactions using hash commitments or zero-knowledge proofs. The plan also covers high-risk legacy holdings, including early coins such as those attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto, via a "Pre-QDay Commitment" mechanism.

Bitcoin Core developer Peter Todd said in recent days about 10% of global hash power went offline, coinciding with a slide in network difficulty to 125.86 T. On Nov. 11, difficulty was 155.97 T. A Bloomberg report adds that hash price has fallen to roughly 3 cents per terahash, pressuring miners' margins.

XRP spot exchange-traded funds registered $45 million of net inflows over the past week while Bitcoin and Ethereum products collectively lost $229 million. On Feb. 6, XRP funds drew $39.04 million in a single day, helping push total historical net inflows above $1.22 billion and lifting total net assets to $1.04 billion, or about 1.17% of XRP's market cap. Despite XRP's price plunging to roughly 70% below its peak before rebounding to $1.42, its ETFs attracted institutional buyers who viewed the volatility as a discounted entry.

Nobel laureate Paul Krugman says the latest crypto slump differs from past cycles, invoking a "Fimbulwinter" and arguing that politics eroded the ideological base that once supported Bitcoin. He adds that Bitcoin has trailed gold and may not be a lasting asset. Bitcoin touched $60,255, a low since October 2024, before rebounding.

Bitwise advisor Jeff Park has argued that Bitcoin’s sharp fall to an intraday low of $60,255 was largely driven by institutional risk management and hedge fund deleveraging. He says multi-strategy funds holding Bitcoin ETFs were forced to unwind positions as volatility and margin pressures rose, triggering aggressive selling. Park adds that implied volatility reaching 75% marks a stress point but may ultimately clear leverage ahead of a potential rapid rebound.