Unsealed U.S. Department of Justice records related to Jeffrey Epstein reference a July 2014 email about Blockstream’s oversubscribed $18 million seed round and a separate May 8, 2010 note naming Michael Saylor’s $25,000 charity donation. The DOJ has said a name appearing in the materials does not, by itself, indicate wrongdoing.

After a roughly 16% slide since 28 January, Bitcoin briefly touched about $74,500 before rebounding to near $78,700. Social metrics show sentiment turning net negative for the first time in nearly two months, while the 14-day RSI near 29 flags oversold conditions. Key resistance remains concentrated around $80,000–$85,000.

On February 1 and 2, 2026, Bitcoin fell about 13% for the week, breaking below the $80,000 level and touching a nine-month low near $74,500. Analysts link the move to a liquidity squeeze, flat Realized Cap metrics, and macro pressure following Kevin Warsh's Fed chair nomination, while Strategy's average BTC entry price around $76,037 briefly turned negative. Despite this structural stress, some models still point to long-term upside, with projections implying potential recovery toward $113,000 by mid-2026.

Bitcoin's network hashrate has dropped about 12% since November, representing the steepest extended decline since 2021. A major U.S. winter storm strained power grids and led many large mining firms in affected regions to switch off equipment, temporarily reducing network security but setting up a lower difficulty adjustment that can improve margins for miners who remain online or restart later.

Binance has begun converting its $1 billion SAFU fund into Bitcoin, completing an initial $100,000,000 purchase of BTC from stablecoins. The exchange shared the SAFU Bitcoin address and confirmed the first batch of the conversion, signaling a public reserve-boosting move after Bitcoin fell more than 38% from its October 2025 all-time high of $126,198. The full conversion is expected to continue over the coming weeks as the platform seeks to reinforce user confidence.

On February 2 2026, newly released Department of Justice files on Jeffrey Epstein reignited online claims that he secretly steered Bitcoin's development and enabled code backdoors. Commentators focused on Epstein's indirect donations to MIT's Digital Currency Initiative, which briefly funded several Bitcoin Core developers, and tried to link this to the FBI's 2021 Colonial Pipeline ransom recovery. However, the reports emphasize that Bitcoin's open-source, decentralized governance and public code reviews undermine assertions of centralized control or hidden vulnerabilities attributed to Epstein.

On Monday, Strategy said in a US SEC filing that it bought 855 BTC for $75.3 million last week at an average $87,974 per coin. Bitcoin opened the week above $87,700, touched $90,000, then briefly slipped under $75,000 on Sunday, per CoinGecko, moving below the company's $76,052 average cost for the first time since late 2023.

On 2 February 2026, Michael Saylor stated that Strategy acquired 855 additional Bitcoin for about $75.3 million at an average price near $87,974 per BTC. Following the purchase, the company holds 713,502 BTC, accumulated at an average cost of roughly $76,052 per coin, reinforcing its long-term Bitcoin treasury approach despite ongoing market volatility.