By Caleb Monroe
Bitcoin extended losses from the weekend on Monday, sliding 1.5% to $83,416.10 by 17:44 ET (21:44 GMT) as investor demand for risk assets cooled. The drop interrupted a run of two consecutive weekly gains for the world’s largest cryptocurrency, gains that had been linked to optimism about favorable U.S. regulatory outcomes.
Market backdrop
Global government bond yields climbed sharply on Monday, with the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield moving past the 5% mark to levels not seen since 2007 and Japanese yields advancing to multi-decade highs. The rise in yields was driven largely by a stronger market belief that major central banks will maintain restrictive policy settings after recent rate increases in September.
Both the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan raised interest rates in September and signaled the possibility of further hikes in response to persistent inflation concerns. Higher policy rates and rising government bond yields tend to make non-yielding, speculative assets like cryptocurrencies relatively less attractive by reducing market liquidity and making sovereign debt comparatively more appealing.
Geopolitical pressure and energy-driven inflation
Heightened tensions related to U.S.-Iran relations also weighed on sentiment. Negotiations between the two sides showed little evidence of meaningful progress toward a concrete peace deal, and President Donald Trump did not rule out the possibility of additional military action against Iran in a weekend interview after rejecting a peace offer from Tehran earlier. The ongoing standoff over the Strait of Hormuz remained a point of concern for risk-sensitive markets.
Continued hostilities involving Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi fighters and Saudi Arabia added to upward pressure on oil prices, reinforcing fears of energy-driven inflation that have been a significant contributor to price pressures this year. Rising energy costs were cited in the market discussion as a major driver of inflation in 2026.
Crypto market reaction
Broad crypto prices largely tracked Bitcoin’s downturn on Monday after two weeks of overall gains. Ether edged down 0.1% to $2,680.78, while XRP decreased 2.1% to $1.4898. Binance Coin, Solana, and Cardano recorded larger declines of 2.2%, 3.9%, and 4.6%, respectively.
Among memecoins, Dogecoin slipped 4.1% and $TRUMP fell 7.2% on the day. The sector’s pullback appeared to reflect a combination of profit-taking after recent rallies and a broader risk-off sentiment as yields rose and geopolitical uncertainty persisted.
Implications for markets
The combination of higher yields and geopolitical friction tightened the conditions for speculative assets by making safer, income-bearing securities relatively more attractive and by elevating the perceived risk of interruption in energy supplies. These dynamics reduced the relative appeal of cryptocurrencies during Monday’s trading session, contributing to the sectorwide weakness observed across major tokens.
While Bitcoin had benefited from two weeks of gains tied to regulatory optimism in the U.S., the prevailing macroeconomic and geopolitical picture on Monday outweighed those positive influences, at least in the near term.
Reporting notes
Ambar Warrick and Pranav Kashyap contributed to this article.