Bitcoin fell on Friday amid a broader sell-off across cryptocurrency markets, with the world’s largest digital asset heading for a second consecutive monthly loss as investor appetite weakened.
Bitcoin dropped 3.21 percent to $77,511 by 12:34 GMT, putting it on track to lose of over 7 percent in October. The decline marks another failure of the traditionally strong month, dubbed “Uptober”, to deliver gains.
Bitcoin faces mounting pressure in October
Bitcoin’s latest decline comes amid broader pressure on risk-sensitive assets, with hotter-than-expected U.S. inflation data and weakening sentiment towards technology stocks weighing on investor appetite.
The cryptocurrency has also faced headwinds from expectations of higher interest rates and escalating tensions in the Middle East, contributing to the failure of its traditional October rally.
The monthly decline reverses some of the gains recorded during a strong July-September rally. Bitcoin remains approximately 50 percent below its record high reached in October 2025, when it also posted a monthly loss of nearly 4 percent.
The latest selling pressure followed reports of a record $6.3 billion cryptocurrency theft from a major exchange late Thursday, prompting the platform to suspend withdrawals while conducting security checks.
Blockchain data aggregator Coinglass reported that approximately $1.66 billion in USDT, 17,985 Bitcoin worth around $1.45 billion, and $767 million in USDC had been drained.
Ether and several other altcoins were also affected, while balances of BNB, the exchange’s native token, remained untouched, according to Coinglass.
The incident marks the largest cryptocurrency theft on record by value, exceeding four times the $1.5 billion stolen in the Bybit hack in early 2025.
Stablecoin issuers also moved to contain the fallout. Circle said it had frozen more than $800 million in USDC associated with the incident, while Tether reported freezing over $1.567 billion in USDT.
The assurances helped cryptocurrencies pare some of their earlier losses, easing concerns over potential selling pressure from the affected assets.
Read: Bitcoin falls to $80,070 as Fed rate hold pressures Ethereum, XRP and Solana
Altcoins extend losses
Broader cryptocurrency markets also traded lower on Friday, although several tokens recovered part of their intraday declines following assurances that losses would be covered.
BNB, which had fallen as much as 8 percent, was down 6.3 percent at $705.47.
Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, declined 3.9 percent to $2,229.24, while XRP fell 2.9 percent to $1.2541.
Cardano lost 3 percent, while Solana dropped 2.8 percent. Among meme coins, Dogecoin fell 3.2 percent, while $TRUMP slid 8.1 percent.
