Bitcoin Falls to $68,000 as Anthropic IPO Orders Raise Liquidity Fears

Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, traded at $68,817.63 after sinking to $68,000 overnight, its lowest level since August. The move extended losses of more than 20% since early October as crypto and technology assets absorbed a series of market shocks.

A scandal at Nvidia has unsettled the AI trade and weighed on the world's most valuable stock. Persistent inflation and political uncertainty following the U.S. midterm election have also pressured the broader market.

Why could Anthropic's IPO be pulling bitcoin lower?

Anthropic's forthcoming stock-market debut became the most immediate focus in the selloff. The artificial-intelligence company is looking to raise as much as $64.4 billion.

Seamus Rocca, CEO of Xapo Bank, said: “In my view, the latest dip can be attributed to the opening of Anthropic's subscription books — which received six times more orders than shares available — pulling capital out of liquid markets.” That figure concerns reported orders, not completed allocations or cash raised.

Rocca also argued that demand could make the offering the largest public listing in history by a wide margin. That characterization remained forward-looking and unverified.

Investors scrambling for allocations may be selling bitcoin and other liquid assets to raise cash, according to Rocca. He compared the rush with the SpaceX IPO earlier this year, which he said temporarily drained bitcoin liquidity as money moved into the offering.

Rocca said: “When an IPO of this scale comes to market, the lure of a quick return is strong, and liquid assets like bitcoin are often the first source of funding when investors scramble for allocations.” That mechanism can tighten cash, but no transaction data links bitcoin sales to Anthropic allocations. Causation remains unproven.

Does the Nvidia shock explain bitcoin's fall?

Rocca also cited swings in technology valuations following Jensen Huang's sudden departure from Nvidia, recent cybersecurity incidents and the prospect of Strategy's removal from MSCI global indexes. The available account supplied no detail about those incidents, Huang's departure or the possible index change.

Not all analysts accept a direct Nvidia-to-bitcoin link. Mark Connors, chief investment strategist at Risk Dimensions, said there was no direct impact. He added: “Gold's decline shows me it is a wholesale derisking deleveraging of the AI trade.”

Chris Sullivan, co-portfolio manager at Hyperium Decimus, also said there was no logical connection between the two. His interpretation treats weakness in AI-linked equities and metals as broad de-risking, not a bitcoin-specific catalyst. Overall, the cited evidence favors a cross-market retreat over a demonstrated Nvidia-to-bitcoin transmission.

What do trading indicators show?

Sullivan pointed to rising bets against bitcoin, with short open interest exceeding the August peak, and large outflows from BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT). He also cited extreme fear in crypto markets and the prospect of a 50-basis-point rate hike within 30 days, equivalent to a 0.50 percentage-point increase.

The available account did not quantify the short interest or fund outflows. It also did not establish that either measure resulted from demand for Anthropic shares.

The metals selloff alongside crypto supports the broader risk-reduction interpretation. It does not resolve whether IPO demand or wider deleveraging carries more weight. Over the next 30 days, bitcoin's response around the prospective rate increase and Anthropic's allocation process will test whether the IPO pull or cross-market deleveraging is the dominant force.