The rotation of capital toward artificial intelligence may have played a larger role in Bitcoin’s recent selloff than most market observers initially assumed.

Michael Saylor, whose company Strategy recently sold part of his Bitcoin holdings, fending off criticism and instead pointing to the unprecedented flow of money into AI infrastructure as a key factor in the decline.

Saylor denies the allegations

Strategy’s Bitcoin sales briefly made Saylor a target. Television personality Jim Cramer went so far as to say that Saylor “murdered Bitcoin”, which Saylor categorically denied.

He argued that capital markets are financing the development of artificial intelligence on a historic scale – about $400 billion in six months – and that the pressure on Bitcoin is due to capital turnover, not a sign of structural damage to the asset.

SBI Holdings Chairman Yoshitaka Kitao echoed this view, pointing to upcoming IPO SpaceX, Anthropic and OpenAI most likely make money from cryptocurrencies.

Job offers data delivers a blow

However, the immediate trigger was the US jobs report, which surprised markets. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that nonfarm payrolls rose to 172,000 in May 2026, more than double Wall Street’s estimate of 85,000. The unemployment rate held steady at 4.3%.

This reading scared investors. BNP Paribas said the data opens the door to as many as three Federal Reserve interest rate hikes, a scenario that has historically weighed on risky assets like Bitcoin. After the release, BTC dropped from $62,500 to around $59,000.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin was listed at $59,9906% drop in 24 hours – the lowest price since October 2024.

ETF outflows add to pressure

Spot Bitcoin ETFs have now seen 14 consecutive sessions of outflows, with cumulative negative flows approaching $5 billion.

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen described these outflows as a significant factor in the broader decline in the cryptocurrency market.

The man who said he would sell his kidneys instead of coins ended up selling coins
Spot ETFs saw net outflows for 13 consecutive days, raising $4.37 billion, the longest continuous record of outflows on record.
BTC fell below the monthly EMA50 support at 65,000. dollars

I’m not bearish. I just don’t think we can pretend we don’t see the threats that need to be mentioned. … https://t.co/Sj0Y8zanys pic.twitter.com/2f0QxTKJYM

— Gracy Chen @Bitget (@GracyBitget) June 4, 2026

According to CoinGlass, Bitcoin saw a total liquidation of $545 million on Friday alone data. Long positions accounted for $444 million of that amount, meaning a wave of automated selling hit the market as prices fell to key levels, deepening the move lower.

Time will tell if the $59,000 zone holds as support. A combination of macro pressures, persistent ETF redemptions and volatile capital flows have left the market on edge.

Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView