The turnover of capital into AI may have played a larger role in Bitcoin’s recent sell-off than most market observers initially assumed.
Michael Saylor, whose company strategy It recently sold part of its Bitcoin holdings, dismissing the criticism and instead pointing to the unprecedented flow of funds into AI infrastructure as a major factor behind the decline.
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Saylor pushes back on the blame
The strategy’s Bitcoin sell-off briefly made Saylor a target. TV personality Jim Cramer went so far as to say that Saylor “killed Bitcoin,” a claim Saylor has flatly denied.
He said capital markets were financing Building artificial intelligence on a historical scale — roughly $400 billion over six months — and that the squeeze on Bitcoin was a turnover of capital, not a sign of structural damage to the asset.
Yoshitaka Kitao, Chairman of SBI, echoed this sentiment, noting: Upcoming IPOs SpaceX, Anthropic, and OpenAI are likely to draw money away from cryptocurrencies.
Jobs data strikes
However, the immediate driver behind this was the US jobs report which surprised the markets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls rose to 172,000 in May 2026, more than double Wall Street’s estimate of 85,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%.
This reading scared away investors. BNP Paribas said the data opens the door to up to three interest rate increases by the Fed, a scenario that historically affects risk assets like bitcoin. From $62,500, Bitcoin fell sharply to around $59,000 after the release.
At the time of writing, Bitcoin Trading at $59,990down 6% in 24 hours – its lowest price since October 2024.
Outflows from ETFs add to the pressure
Spot Bitcoin ETFs have now recorded 14 consecutive sessions of outflows, with cumulative negative inflows approaching $5 billion.
Bitget CEO Gracie Chen identified those outflows as an important factor in the decline of the broader cryptocurrency market.
The man who said he would sell his kidneys instead of coins finally sold the coins
Spot ETFs have seen net outflows for 13 straight days, accumulating $4.37 billion, the longest continuous outflow record in history.
BTC fell below the monthly EMA50 support at $65KI’m not bearish. I just feel like we can’t pretend not to see the risks that need to be mentioned. … https://t.co/Sj0Y8zanys pic.twitter.com/2f0QxTKJYM
– Gracy Chen @Bitget (@GracyBitget) June 4, 2026
On Friday alone, Bitcoin saw a total of $545 million in liquidations, according to CoinGlass. Data. Long positions accounted for $444 million of this figure, meaning that a wave of automated selling hit the market as prices fell through key levels, exacerbating the downward movement.
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It remains to be seen whether the $59,000 area will hold as support. The combination of macro pressure, ongoing ETF redemptions, and changing capital flows has left the market on edge.
Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
