By Martin Baccardax

Things end with a whimper, not a bang, T.S. Eliot theorized in his 1925 poem "The Hollow Men," a bleak assessment of life after the first world war.

Bitcoin's ongoing decline, and 40% slump from the heady heights of its late October record, might be undergoing a similar evolution, losing its luster to one of the biggest tech rallies on record and suffering some big name exits as it reaches the lowest levels since early April.

Mark Cuban, the billionaire former "Shark Tank" regular and erstwhile critic of President Donald Trump, dumped nearly all his bitcoin holdings late last month, saying the original digital currency has "lost the plot." He cited gold's notable outperformance amid war, inflation, and currency debasement risks brought on by the U.S. attacks on Iran.

Michael Saylor, another billionaire holder of the digital currency through his digital asset treasury group Strategy, made his first sale in nearly four years last week, according to an update filed on Monday, dumping 32 bitcoin worth around $2.5 million at an average price of $77,135 each.

The world's first, and still the largest, cryptocurrency slipped below the $72,000 dollar mark on Monday, extending its one-month slump to around 6.7%. The decline has been a long one, however, and it now trades only modestly higher than prior to the U.S. attacks on Iran in late February.

It's also down more than 42% since the heady peaks of late October, when it touched a record high of $124,000 amid predictions of a run toward the $200,000 mark, and possibly beyond, over the coming year.

And it's not just billionaires heading for the exit.

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust, the market's largest, saw $1.41 billion in net outflows last month, including the second-largest single-day decline on record last week, when $528 million in cash headed for the exits.

Bloomberg data, meanwhile, shows U.S.-listed bitcoin funds suffered around $2.8 billion in net outflows over the last two weeks of May, marking the longest stretch of redemptions on record.

"Sentiment toward Bitcoin has soured quite rapidly," said David Morrison, senior market analyst at London-based Trade Nation. "Now it appears that investors have become frustrated with its relatively slow upside progress, especially given the stunning gains seen across AI-related tech stocks, particularly semiconductors, since the end of March."

The furious tech rally, of course, has lifted the Nasdaq more than 25% since the start of the second quarter, with the PHLX semiconductor index rising nearly 70%.

That's taken a lot of attention from bitcoin, which has not only failed to keep pace with the searing tech rally, but also failed to see solid gains in the face of faster inflation and multiyear highs in oil prices tied to the U.S.-Iran conflict.

"I think Mark [Cuban] is right, crypto has been disappointing," Fundstrat's Tom Lee told CNBC on Monday. "It should move with equity markets, and it should be rallying with software. I think we're seeing what I call 'rage quitting,' people selling here as if something is wrong."

Lee, for the record, isn't one of them. He sees a future where digital assets like bitcoin are set to play a central role.

"The future [of bitcoin] hasn't changed," Lee added. "But the spotlight today is of course on semis, memory and software, but as people focus downstream into the future, that's really when the bid comes for bitcoin."

That might take some time, given that even a recent push from President Trump -- who repeated his declaration that the U.S. is the "crypto capital of the world" in a social media post last week urging Congress to pass the CLARITY Act bill -- failed to ignite any sort of rally.

H opes of a U.S.-Iran truce that has driven global crude prices some 15% lower over the past month also didn't seem to help bitcoin, although they added extra heft to U.S. stock markets and pricked a hole in bets on a global inflation surge over the back half of the year.

"I always thought it was a better version of gold than gold," Cuban told Front Office Sports "Portfolio Players" podcast last week.

But with bullion prices holding near the $4475 mark, and up 32% over the past year, Bitcoin's 32% decline over the same period looks worrying.

"This might get some people upset," he added. "I think Bitcoin has lost the plot."

We'll all find out together if that's a bang or a whimper.

Write to Martin Baccardax at martin.baccardax@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.

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June 01, 2026 13:19 ET (17:19 GMT)

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