Bitcoin Drops Below $100K as AI, Memecoin Sectors Lead Crypto Market Dip

The cryptocurrency market experienced a sharp downturn in the past 24 hours, with Bitcoin retreating below the closely watched $100,000 mark. This pullback, mirrored across the broader crypto space, resulted in over $850 million in liquidations, primarily impacting traders holding long positions. The downturn coincided with a premarket dip in Nvidia shares, suggesting a broader tech sector sell-off may be contributing to the crypto market's woes.

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana All See Red

Bitcoin's price fell by 5.7%, currently trading around $99,100, while Ethereum dipped below $3,100, experiencing an 8.2% decline. Solana also felt the pressure, dropping 10% to around $230.

AI Tokens and Memecoins Suffer Steep Declines

The sell-off wasn't limited to the major cryptocurrencies. The AI agent token sector, a recent high-flyer, was particularly hard hit, with its market capitalization declining by 20% in the past day, according to CoinGecko. Notable decliners in this category included Fartcoin (down 23%) and Virtuals Protocol (down 21%). Other AI-related tokens like ai16z, AIXBT, and AI Rig also experienced significant pullbacks.

Memecoins, another popular segment of the crypto market, also suffered losses, with the sector declining 11% overall. Pepe and SPX6900 both dropped 16%, while Dogecoin fell by 11%. Even memecoins associated with a prominent political figure saw declines, reflecting the broad-based nature of the downturn.

Nvidia Dip and Chinese AI Startup Spark Tech Sell-Off

The catalyst for this market-wide decline appears to be multifaceted. Nvidia, the world's third most valuable chipmaker and a bellwether for the tech sector, saw its shares drop 7% in premarket trading. This decline followed the announcement from Chinese AI startup DeepSeek, which introduced a new AI model, DeepSeek R1, that reportedly rivals leading Western models from OpenAI and Meta, but at a fraction of the cost.