Bitcoin crashes to $86K as gold approaches $5,000 and US stocks see worst performance since October

Bitcoin is slipping again, now at $90,280, down 7.5% over the past five days, and once again under pressure as investors flee risk.

While global tensions have spooked markets, the drop in Bitcoin isn’t just about geopolitics. There’s a new concern rising inside the crypto community; quantum vulnerability.

Peter Corey, co-founder of Pave Finance, says this fear is starting to spread across Bitcoin circles. The issue? The growing risk that quantum computers could eventually crack digital wallets by stealing private keys. That would put hundreds of millions of bitcoins at risk, according to data from Chaincode Labs.

Corey said, “This type of news can terrify investors, and it probably has scared people away.” He also pointed out that panic hitting headlines can sometimes signal a bottom. But the risk is now being taken seriously by institutional players.

Christopher Wood, a strategist at Jefferies, recently dropped his 10% Bitcoin position in the firm’s Fear & Greed portfolio and rotated the funds into gold and gold miners, citing these same concerns.

This comes after a breakthrough out of Stanford, where researchers built a room-temperature quantum communication device, a key leap forward in the race toward practical quantum tech.

That kind of progress has added urgency. Corey said quantum computers could arrive within a few years, and the idea that they could break into the blockchain is no longer theoretical.

Donald Trump says the search to replace Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is nearly done, and he already has someone in mind. Speaking to CNBC at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump said:-

“I’d say we’re down to three, but we’re down to two. And I probably can tell you, we’re down to maybe one, in my mind.”

He didn’t name the candidate but made it clear the decision is close. The process started back in September and at one point involved 11 people. It’s now basically over, with Trump narrowing it down to a final name privately.

The shortlist is packed with big names. It includes Kevin Warsh, a former Fed governor, Christopher Waller, a current Fed governor, Kevin Hassett, head of the National Economic Council, and Rick Rieder, who runs fixed income at BlackRock.

Trump called Rick “impressive” and had positive words for all of them. Rick is believed to be the last person who interviewed for the role.

We just witnessed the craziest rollercoaster in markets.

Markets just turned green again after Donald Trump told the crowd at Davos he won’t use force to take Greenland, calming fears that had been weighing down U.S. equities all week. The Dow jumped 519 points, or 1.1%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq each added 1.1% and 1.2% respectively.

During his speech, Trump shifted the tone. He said the U.S. has been footing the bill for NATO, but ruled out military action over Greenland.

“We never asked for anything, and we never got anything. We probably won’t get anything unless I decide to use excessive strength and force, where we would be, frankly, unstoppable.

But I won’t do that. Okay? Now everyone’s saying, ‘Oh, good.’ That’s probably the biggest statement I made, because people thought I would use force. I don’t have to use force. I don’t want to use force. I won’t use force.”

He then downplayed the recent selloff. Trump told the audience: “Our stock market dip is peanuts… that stock market is going to be doubled.” He predicted the Dow would hit 50,000, and eventually 100,000 “in a relatively short period of time.”

But not everyone is buying the Greenland story. Scott Bessent says the selloff had nothing to do with Trump or the Arctic.

According to Scott, the real reason markets dipped earlier is because Japan’s bond market just had a six-standard-deviation move in 10-year bonds over two days, a move he described as the actual catalyst behind the panic.

Bitcoin is falling fast again. The price dropped $2,000 in just minutes, now sitting at $86,888 on Coinbase, after $360 million worth of levered longs were liquidated in the last hour.

The crash puts Bitcoin down 9% in 48 hours, and altcoins are bleeding too. Ethereum is down 7.4%, now at $2,939, while Solana is off 5.4%, at $126.01. XRP and BNB are also down over 4% each.

Gold is still rallying hard. Futures are now trading at $4,820, inching closer to that $5,000 level as panic spreads across risk assets.

U.S. equities got slammed after Donald Trump doubled down on his Greenland tariffs, just before his Davos appearance on Wednesday.

The Dow sank 870 points, or 1.8%, while the S&P 500 dropped 2.1%, and the Nasdaq fell 2.4%. All three just had their worst day since October 10. The drop pushed both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq into negative territory for 2026.

After hours, stock futures are holding slight gains. Dow futures are up 85 points, the S&P 500 is up 0.2%, and the Nasdaq 100 is up 0.1%. But the bleeding in crypto hasn’t stopped, and gold keeps rising.