Bitcoin traded sideways on Friday after a sharp two-hour drop of about 4.5% to roughly $64,200, according to Santiment. Open interest fell to around $19.5 billion from the $38.3 billion mid-January peak, while BTC stood at $65,712, down 2.45% over 24 hours, as analysts assessed sentiment and risk.

In 2026, Bitcoin is down roughly 30% since the start of 2024, while gold has gained 153%, highlighting a sharp divergence in performance. An analyst links this gap to expanding global money supply, subdued speculative appetite for tech and SaaS stocks, and falling crypto exchange balances. At the same time, trading interest on crypto platforms has tilted toward gold futures and away from core BTC holdings.

Mark Karpelès proposed a Bitcoin hard fork to enable recovery of about 79,956 BTC from a dormant address tied to the June 2011 Mt. Gox hack. The draft notes a coordinated upgrade would be required and warns of potential chain split risks. Those coins are outside the trustee’s estate; creditor repayments began in mid‑2024 with the deadline extended to October 2026.

On February 27, analyst Amr Taha reported that Bitcoin perpetual funding turned negative across major venues—Binance -0.005%, OKX -0.007%, Bybit -0.011%—and flagged a potential short squeeze if price advances toward liquidation clusters near $92,000. He also tracked about 1,700 BTC in net inflows from mid-term "Octopus" wallets to Binance, while CoinGecko showed BTC ranging between $66,600 and $68,600.

On Friday, Bitcoin fell below $65,500 as U.S. wholesale inflation and equity jitters intensified. Analysts cut U.S. stocks to neutral on overvaluation, a weaker dollar and policy risks, while the 10-year yield slid to 3.97% from 4.21% over three weeks, sparking rotation talk toward BTC.

On 23 February 2026, Minnesota Representative Erin Koegel introduced HF 3642, a bill that would prohibit all physical cryptocurrency kiosks in the state and close about 350 licensed Bitcoin ATMs. The proposal follows reported losses of roughly $540,000 from 70 kiosk-related complaints in 2025, mostly involving scams targeting seniors, and would repeal earlier 2024 safeguards viewed as ineffective.

On February 26, TeraWulf Inc. reported fourth-quarter results that missed expectations, with revenue at $35.8 million versus $44.1 million forecast and a $1.66 loss per share. Management highlighted pressure from Bitcoin's decline and noted AI/HPC leasing revenue increased to $9.7 million while mining revenue fell to $26.1 million.

Bitcoin is registering a familiar bottom signal as the supply-in-profit/loss ratio returns to zones seen at past capitulations. Analysts differ on the path ahead: Willy Woo cites weak spot and futures liquidity and maps outcomes from a typical floor near $45,000 to stress-driven $30,000, with $16,000 only under severe macro shifts. BTC trades at $65,928.14, down 1.7% daily and 26.3% over the past month.