Bitcoin gained about 1% to $77,800 on Monday even as AI safety warnings from industry leaders dragged down tech and chip stocks. SoftBank, Nebius, CoreWeave and Sandisk all sold off while Brent crude jumped above $107 a barrel, extending a pattern of Bitcoin holding steady through 2026's AI-driven equity swings.
Bitcoin gained about 1% over the past 24 hours to $77,800, while ether added 1% to $2,500. The move came as U.S. technology and artificial intelligence stocks fell in pre-market trading Monday, after leading CEOs renewed concerns over the weekend about the pace of AI development.
Anthropic and OpenAI CEOs call for a slowdown
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for the industry to slow development to let safety measures catch up. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Elon Musk, whose xAI developed Grok, voiced agreement. Anthropic also reportedly selected Nasdaq for its anticipated IPO. Altman confirmed OpenAI will not go public in 2026.
Separately, SoftBank Group shares plunged 13% as the AI safety warnings rattled its Vision Fund portfolio.
Chip and cloud stocks lead the selloff
South Korea's Kospi fell 3%, and SK Hynix, whose memory chips are used by AI companies, dropped 6%. The Invesco QQQ ETF, which tracks the Nasdaq 100, fell 1.5% in pre-market trading. Neocloud providers Nebius and CoreWeave fell 6% and 5%, while chipmakers Sandisk and Intel each lost 5%.
Oil climbs, precious metals retreat
Brent crude climbed more than 3% to $107 a barrel, while WTI traded above $103, adding to market pressure. Longer-dated Treasury yields edged lower, with the 10-year just below 5% and the 30-year at 5.355%. Gold fell almost 1% to around $4,300 an ounce, and silver declined 1.5%.
A decoupling pattern built through 2026
Throughout 2026, Bitcoin has repeatedly held its ground during episodes that hammered semiconductor and AI-adjacent stocks, reinforcing a decoupling narrative. Earlier in the year, Bitcoin ETFs saw outflows exceeding $2.7 billion in a single week, with year-to-date outflows reaching $3.1 billion by early June, a rotation that pushed BTC to cycle lows near $58,000 to $60,000 that month.
Sources: CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data, Crypto Briefing
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