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