NEW YORK, March 5, 2026, 17:34 EST — After-hours
Bitcoin dropped 2.8% in late U.S. hours Thursday, sliding to around $71,178 after briefly touching $73,514 earlier. That retreat unwound a chunk of Wednesday’s 7.6% rally, as the dollar strengthened and traders pulled back on risk.
Bitcoin held above $70,000 following this week’s bounce, with traders eyeing Friday’s U.S. non-farm payrolls report. Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group, warned it could “change the mood quickly.” reuters.com
New infrastructure deals played their part, not just moves in prices. Intercontinental Exchange, which owns the New York Stock Exchange, revealed a minority investment in OKX. That deal pegs OKX’s valuation at $25 billion—a fresh example of major market players deepening their digital-asset infrastructure bets.
Just a day before, Kraken’s banking division broke new ground as the first digital-asset bank in the U.S. to land limited clearance for the Federal Reserve’s payments system, opening a direct line into America’s core payment rails for certain institutional flows. Arjun Sethi, the Payward co-CEO, called the Fed nod a milestone for merging crypto infrastructure with traditional sovereign rails. Thursday saw bank regulators clarify that tokenized securities—regular securities issued on blockchain—won’t be slapped with higher capital requirements solely for using that tech.
Washington delivered the sharper headline this day. Negotiations around the Clarity Act—legislation aiming to define whether crypto assets are securities or commodities—stalled yet again as banks pushed back on stablecoin reward provisions. Stablecoins, pegged to the dollar or similar, remain a sticking point. “The window to get the bill to President Donald Trump’s desk could close by July,” Adrian Wall, managing director at the Digital Sovereignty Alliance, told Reuters. reuters.com
Macro winds weren’t on their side. U.S. crude jumped 8.5% to finish at $81.01 a barrel. The dollar index added 0.5%. Wall Street, meanwhile, slipped, with investors rethinking how much leeway the Federal Reserve really has for rate cuts if rising energy prices keep stoking inflation.
Crypto-linked stocks lost ground as sentiment cooled. Strategy slid 4.5% in late moves, Coinbase shed 1.5%, and Marathon Digital gave up 5.4%—each tracking bitcoin’s pullback.
Buyers are walking a tightrope here. Should oil prices remain elevated, or if upcoming U.S. inflation figures push yields higher, bitcoin could find it tough to stay north of $70,000. Michael Arone, chief investment strategist at State Street Investment Management, called oil “a good barometer” for risk assets’ performance, saying it often signals whether things go well or badly. reuters.com
Traders are zeroed in on two main data points next: February’s U.S. jobs numbers, out at 8:30 a.m. ET on March 6, and the consumer price figures for February, landing March 11. Both could set the tone for a market still holding above $70,000.
