Bitcoin briefly drops below $78,000

On February 1st, per on-chain analyst Ai Auntie (@ai_9684xtpa), Trend Research deposited 10,000 ETH into Binance two hours ago and withdrew 6,411 ETH (valued at $15.41 million) five minutes ago.

On February 1, "Fed Whisperer" Nick Timiraos reported that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell again declined to say at this week’s FOMC meeting whether he will stay on the Fed’s Board once his term as chair expires on May 15. Timiraos’ analysis notes Powell has this option because his term as a Federal Reserve governor does not expire until 2028. If Powell opts to stay at the Fed, Brainard would lose her seat—this would be a major blow to Trump’s alleged "manipulation" of the central bank. As such, Powell’s decision is his last card to push back against the administration and his only bargaining chip.

As of Feb 1, per Coinglass data: - If Ethereum (ETH) drops below $2,300, cumulative long liquidation pressure across major centralized exchanges (CEX) will reach $737M. - Conversely, if ETH breaks above $2,500, cumulative short liquidation pressure across major CEX will hit $614M. BlockBeats Note: Liquidation charts do not display the exact number or value of contracts at risk of liquidation. Instead, the bars reflect the **relative importance** of each liquidation cluster compared to adjacent clusters (i.e., "intensity"). This means the chart shows how strongly asset prices will react when reaching a specific level: a taller "liquidation bar" signals a more intense price response due to a liquidity cascade.

February 1st, per GMGN market data, the Base ecosystem meme coin CLAWNCH briefly topped $41.5 million in market cap, hitting an all-time high. It has since pulled back to $33.87 million, with a 468% surge over the past 24 hours. CLAWNCH is a launch platform built for AI agents, inspired by Moltbook (an interactive/social ecosystem for AI agents) and Clanker (another AI-focused launch tool on Base). The platform enables meme token development, deployment, and launch entirely via AI-powered autonomous chat—no human intervention involved. BlockBeats advises users to exercise caution: meme coins often lack practical use cases and are subject to extreme price volatility.

On February 1, per EmberCN monitoring, two of the largest Ethereum (ETH) long addresses by position size on Hyperliquid have recently been forcibly liquidated: - The "CZ Whale Whale Address," which held $181 million in ETH long positions, was liquidated yesterday with total losses of $54 million. - The "BTC OG Insider Whale," which held $660 million in ETH long positions, was liquidated early this morning with total losses of $230 million.

**Bitcoin Falls Below $76k in Weekend Trading, Hits 2018-Longest Monthly Losing Streak** (Bloomberg) — Bitcoin briefly dropped below $76,000 during weekend trading on February 1, marking a roughly 40% retracement from its 2025 high and the longest monthly losing streak since 2018. Market participants note the decline wasn’t driven by panic selling or systemic risk—but rather by fading buy-side demand, tightening liquidity conditions, and eroding market confidence. Data shows Bitcoin has reacted sluggishly to geopolitical tensions, a weaker U.S. dollar, and a rebound in risk assets; recent sharp swings in precious metals have also failed to spark fund rotation. Spot ETFs continued to see net outflows, institutional buying interest has cooled significantly, and market depth remains over 30% below its October 2024 peak. Analysts broadly agree the correction isn’t over yet. Kaiko forecasts Bitcoin may need another 6 to 9 months for a meaningful recovery; some firms have also war