By Alex Kozul-Wright

The price of Bitcoin continued to drop Tuesday, remaining below $70,000.

The world's largest cryptocurrency fell 0.6% to $68,356 over the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk. Over the same period, Ethereum and popular alt-coin XRP were up by 0.3% and 0.1%, respectively.

Elsewhere, crypto-related stocks increased slightly. Coinbase, a cryptocurrency exchange, was up 1% in after-hours trading, while brokerage firm Robinhood climbed 0.1% and Strategy -- the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin -- was up 0.2%.

Mixed market sentiment around digital assets comes on the heels of last week's U.S. consumer price inflation print, which came in slightly lower than forecast -- at 2.4%.

The cooler-than-expected reading sparked renewed interest in risk assets and initially boosted cryptocurrencies -- Bitcoin hit $71,842 on Sunday.

Since then its price has fallen. Bitcoin is seen by some as a haven asset alongside gold, the price of which was also falling early Tuesday -- down 2.1%.

Looking ahead, Friday's personal consumption expenditures data could have an outsize impact on cryptos. If the "continued cooling" narrative persists, near-term Fed rate cuts could become more likely, which would lower the returns on bonds and push investors towards higher-risk assets such as cryptocurrencies.

In the near term, volatility looks set to remain a persistent feature of digital asset trading.

Write to Alex Kozul-Wright at alexander.kozul-wright@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 17, 2026 05:42 ET (10:42 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2026 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.