Bitcoin slid to roughly $78,000 after cascading liquidations stripped $1.3 billion from leveraged positions within 12 hours. Bull Theory said the turbulence was part of a $12 trillion cross-asset drawdown that also dragged metals and U.S. equities lower.

On February 1, 2026, Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 amid accelerating derivatives liquidations. According to market data, more than $500 million in long positions were wiped out within an hour and nearly $3.5 billion over three days, while reports indicate a well-known early holder lost over $120 million during yesterday’s sell-off.

In an email dated October 13, 2016, later released within the U.S. Department of Justice's 3 million-file document dump, Jeffrey Epstein claimed he had spoken with "some of the founders of Bitcoin" while pitching Saudi contacts on a dual Sharia-based currency system. The proposal combined a physical fiat "Sharia" currency with a digital version linked to the Bitcoin network, and additional emails from 2013 and 2014 placed Epstein inside early crypto debates involving major investors as well as tensions around Ripple and Stellar.

Bitcoin fell below the $76,000 long-term realized cost basis over the weekend, a level built over roughly 27 months of accumulation and seen as structurally important. The move, driven by ETF outflows, tighter liquidity and defensive derivatives positioning, pushed price to stabilize near $78,000 while traders now watch $80,000 as the first upside reclaim target.

Veteran trader Peter Brandt has outlined a medium-term downside objective for Bitcoin near $58,000 after the sharp rejection below $100,000 in January 2026. Using a long-term power law chart with a logarithmic growth channel, he argues that a return toward the channel's midline around $58,000–$60,000 would represent a reversion to fair value. Brandt's view comes after Bitcoin dropped from a high of $97,939 to a low of $75,555 in January, signaling strong selling pressure around the six-figure threshold.

Since November 11, severe winter storms in the United States have driven a roughly 12% drop in Bitcoin's network hashrate, pushing it down to around 970 exahashes per second. Mining revenue fell from about $45 million per day on January 22 to a low near $28 million two days later, as large operators curtailed output and profitability sank to levels last seen in November 2024.

Over the weekend, Bitcoin briefly fell about 7% to $77,000 before rebounding to near $78,600, a move analyst PlanC contends could represent the deepest correction of the current bull market. He argues the price action resembles previous capitulation phases and estimates a potential cycle floor between $75,000 and $80,000, while other strategists warn that further downside toward the mid-$60,000 or even $60,000 area remains possible amid hawkish Federal Reserve policy and geopolitical tensions.

On 1 February 2026, Bitcoin Everlight was outlined as a lightweight transaction layer intended to improve Bitcoin-based payments while preserving Bitcoin's role as a settlement chain. The project introduces BTCL-powered node routing, external audits, and a multi-stage presale with a fixed 21,000,000,000 token supply. Ethereum, by contrast, relies on rollups and Layer 2 networks that already handle high-volume, low-fee activity and support lower average transaction values than Bitcoin.