Bitcoin’s Steady Performance Amid Market Turmoil Raises Questions About Its Future Role

As traditional markets experienced significant volatility, Bitcoin demonstrated resilience, leading to ongoing debates about its classification as a risk asset or a safe haven.

CoinDesk Weekly Recap: Bitcoin Holds Steady Amid Market Turmoil

The stock market had a dreadful week, with the S&P 500 falling over 6%. Bitcoin fared better than the wider market, rising over 1% in the same period. The Nasdaq had one of its largest falls in 25 years on Thursday, but Bitcoin held relatively steady. The big question for Bitcoin amid market uncertainty is whether it’s seen as a risk asset or a safe haven akin to gold. The digital assets industry prepared for better days ahead.

First Trust Launches First Bitcoin Strategy ETFs

First Trust Advisors has unveiled two new Bitcoin strategy exchange-traded funds (ETFs), adding to a suite of products that currently hold more than $28 billion in net assets. The ETFs, part of the Floor15 ETF Series of Target Outcome ETFs, are the FT Vest Bitcoin Strategy Floor15 ETF – April and the FT Vest Bitcoin Strategy & Target Income ETF, listed on the NYSE Arca under tickers BFAP and DFII respectively. The FT Vest Bitcoin Strategy Floor15 ETF – April provides investors with a risk-managed way to engage with Bitcoin with a defined floor and upside cap.

Bitcoin Decouples From Nasdaq as U.S. Stocks Decline

After weeks of closely following Nasdaq movements, Bitcoin (BTC) is showing signs of independence. With Nasdaq down 5% on Friday and another 6% on Thursday, Bitcoin’s price remains stable at around $83,000, up 1% in the last 24 hours. It has declined by just 3.5% since President Trump’s tariff announcement. Bitcoin outperforms crypto-related stocks like Coinbase (COIN), MicroStrategy (MSTR), and others, which have seen double-digit declines over the past two sessions. The broader crypto market, represented by the CoinDesk 20 Index, is also showing strength.

Bitcoin Selling Pressure on the Rise Following Babylon Airdrop

The Bitcoin staking ecosystem witnessed a significant shift after the Babylon protocol’s recent airdrop. Within 24 hours of distributing 600 million BABY tokens, 256 BTC, valued at over $21 million, was unstaked from the platform. These unstaking transactions paid a total of 1.35 BTC in fees and consumed 1.318 MvB of blockspace. Babylon’s total value locked (TVL) currently sits at $4.29 billion, accounting for about 80% of the entire Bitcoin ecosystem’s TVL, which stands at $5.34 billion. Additionally, on-chain data suggests that long-term Bitcoin holders moved over 1,058 BTC (roughly $90 million) recently.

Bitcoin ETFs Bleed $100M as Market Reacts to Shock Tariff Move

Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw nearly $100 million in net outflows on Thursday. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) was the only ETF to record inflows, with about $65 million added. Grayscale’s GBTC recorded the largest daily outflow of around $60 million. The market faced additional challenges during this equity market downturn, with most funds losing capital. Despite risk asset turbulence and volatility across traditional markets, IBIT experienced institutional investor momentum.