Bitcoin is teetering near the psychologically critical $60,000 level Thursday as a confluence of factors—sustained ETF outflows, Strategy's first bitcoin sale since 2022, and a global unwind of AI-related trades—pushes the largest cryptocurrency toward its weakest technical support in months. The price has shed close to 16% from last week's $74,000-plus levels, with the bulk of the damage concentrated in the past three sessions.

Market Context

The crypto market selloff comes as Broadcom's outlook for AI-chip sales fell short of high expectations, triggering a broad rotation out of AI-linked positions globally. This macro headwind has compounded existing pressures on digital assets, where institutional sentiment has shifted notably over the past two weeks. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs have now recorded 15 consecutive sessions of net outflows, a streak not seen since the post-ETF-launch correction in early 2024.

Analysis

The breakdown below $63,000 marks a technical failure that changes the near-term calculus for bitcoin. The supports that held through earlier 2026 drawdowns are no longer in place. Strategy—formerly MicroStrategy—no longer functions as the marginal corporate buyer that absorbed selling pressure throughout 2024 and 2025 after disclosing its first bitcoin sale since 2022 earlier this week, removing a key floor beneath the market.

Meanwhile, Zcash is experiencing one of its worst single-day collapses in history following the disclosure of a critical vulnerability in its Orchard shielded pool. Arthur Hayes, Maelstrom founder and former BitMEX CEO, announced on X that he sold his entire ZEC position after learning about an exploit affecting the privacy token's core infrastructure. Hayes had been among the more visible institutional bulls on Zcash through its 2026 rally and had included it in his 'Holy Trinity' framework alongside bitcoin and ether.

Hayes wrote that while he believes the risk of any improper minting is 'extremely low,' the issue cannot be cryptographically proven impossible, and that the privacy thesis he was holding ZEC against 'demands perfection not improbability.' The 30% drop in the token over 24 hours forced him to reassess and exit entirely rather than ride out the volatility. Shielded Labs disclosed that the vulnerability—present since Orchard's activation in May 2022—was discovered on May 29 by security engineer Taylor Hornby using Anthropic's Opus 4.8 AI model and patched via emergency fix by June 1. The organization states there is no cryptographic way to determine whether the flaw was exploited prior to patching.

Key Numbers

- Bitcoin trading just over $62,000, roughly $2,700 above the $60,000 round number acting as next technical test

- BTC down close to 16% from last week's $74,000-plus levels

- U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs: 15 consecutive sessions of net outflows totaling more than $4.7 billion

- ZEC dropped 37% in one of the token's worst single-day declines

- Next major BTC support level sits closer to $55,000 if $60,000 breaks

What to Watch

A break of the $60,000 level would put bitcoin back into territory it last visited during February's drawdown. Traders will monitor whether ETF outflows continue and whether Strategy resumes buying or pivots toward a more neutral stance. For ZEC, Shielded Labs is proposing a network upgrade with new accounting measures and expanded security audits to restore confidence in the token's supply integrity—though the timeline for that upgrade remains unclear. The broader crypto market direction will hinge on AI sector sentiment and traditional risk appetite as the trading week concludes.