Bitcoin retakes $64,000, crypto miners rally, as AI-related software rout eases

Sellers are taking a breather as bitcoin's Fear & Greed Index plunged to levels never seen before.

By Krisztian Sandor

What to know:

• Crypto prices were putting in a modest rally on Tuesday, with bitcoin climbing past $64,000.

• The bitcoin Fear & Greed Index fell to 5, a level not even seen during the 2018 bear market, the 2020 Covid crash, and 2022's crypto winter.

• AI fears are taking a breather on Wall Street, with the embattled software sector (IGV) gaining 1.7% after a relentless plunge in recent weeks.

Bitcoin BTC$64,481.80 pushed back above $64,000 in early U.S. trading Tuesday, tracking a broader rebound in risk assets after several sessions of turbulence.

Trading recently at $64,200, bitcoin was still lower by 0.75% over the past 24 hours, but nicely above the morning's low of $62,500. Ether (ETH) and solana (SOL) also narrowed big early losses.

Crypto’s tight correlation with technology stocks remained evident, with software shares — as represented by the iShares Software Sector ETF (IGV) — bouncing 1.7% after recent heavy losses on concerns that artificial intelligence (AI) tools will destroy their business models.

The gains came as some companies, including Intuit and DocuSign, announced partnerships with AI firm Anthropic, signaling that incumbents might be able to adapt rather than being displaced.

Meanwhile, traditional safe havens lost ground. Gold fell 1.5% on the session, while crude oil slipped 0.5% as geopolitical tensions eased. Reports cited Iran’s deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi saying the country "is ready to take any necessary step to reach a deal with the U.S.," tempering fears of an imminent military strike.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 traded 1.1% higher, while the broad-market S&P 500 was up 0.8%.

High-performance computing firms and bitcoin miners — increasingly tied to AI data center infrastructure — joined the move higher. Bitdeer (BTDR), Cipher Mining (CIFR), Hut 8 (HUT) and TeraWulf (WULF) led gains, rallying 6%-10%.

Much of the rest of the crypto-related sector was modestly lower, with Coinbase (COIN), MARA Holdings (MARA) and Strategy (MSTR) among those showing losses of 0.5%-1%.

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