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Bitcoin briefly dropped below $81,000 on Thursday, October 8, 2026, before climbing to around $81,800 late in the U.S. session. CoinDesk’s live coverage, which ended at 5:00 p.m. EDT, said the 24-hour loss had narrowed to about 2%. These are historical figures from that session, not current market quotes.

How Bitcoin moved during the session

CoinDesk reported that Bitcoin briefly fell below $81,000, its lowest level since September 21. Earlier in the week, it had traded near $87,000; the report said the decline from that level exceeded 8% over four days. By the U.S. stock-market close on October 8, Bitcoin had recovered to around $81,800, narrowing its 24-hour loss to about 2%. CoinDesk’s live report described the price action as a late-session recovery from the day’s worst levels.

At the time of the drop below $81,000, CoinDesk cited Glassnode data estimating that roughly 6.4 million BTC were held at a loss. That estimate describes the on-chain picture reported during this session; it is not a current reading.

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Why did Bitcoin fall on Thursday?

CoinDesk described several concerns traders were monitoring, rather than establishing a single cause for Bitcoin’s decline. Those included anxiety about whether advances in AI could threaten cryptocurrency cryptography, rising oil prices and interest rates, jitters weighing on technology stocks, and attention to the approaching anniversary of the October 2025 flash crash.

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The live report’s framing matters: these were factors discussed alongside the selloff, not proof that any one of them caused Bitcoin’s move. The session also included sharp swings in bonds and oil, illustrating the broader market uncertainty rather than a definitive explanation for the cryptocurrency’s price.

What Treasury yields and oil did

Treasury yields reversed lower

CoinDesk reported that the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield reached 5.36% before moving down to 5.22%; the 30-year yield reached 5.73% before falling to 5.60%. The report said the reason for the reversal was difficult to determine. It offered one possibility: a decline in the Nasdaq may have sent money into bonds. That was a suggested explanation, not a confirmed account of investor flows.

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Oil rose, then fell in the report’s chronology

During an earlier update, CoinDesk said WTI crude had risen above $93 a barrel and Brent above $105 after a tanker attack off Qatar. The report later noted comments by President Trump that he would not attack Iran before the midterm elections, alongside a decline in oil prices. These are events and market levels in the October 8 coverage, not a current oil-market or geopolitical update.

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Was cryptocurrency cryptography actually under threat?

CoinDesk covered a viral warning that AI could put cryptocurrency cryptography at imminent risk and a counterpoint from Yehuda Lindell, Coinbase’s head of cryptography. Lindell told CoinDesk: “There is no evidence whatsoever pointing to a break of decades old hardness assumptions like elliptic curve cryptography.”

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The warning and Lindell’s response should be read as opposing claims reported during the session, not as a technical finding established by CoinDesk’s market coverage. The report does not demonstrate that cryptocurrency cryptography had been broken or that a near-term break was imminent.

Why the October 2025 flash crash was on traders’ minds

CoinDesk connected the market’s attention to the approaching one-year anniversary of the October 10, 2025 flash crash. It described Bitcoin falling from about $122,000 to $105,000, with much of the decline occurring within minutes during thin Friday-evening U.S. trading. The anniversary was one of the concerns traders were watching in October 2026, not evidence that the earlier crash caused the October 8 decline.

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What the session says—and does not say

The clearest takeaway from CoinDesk’s account is the sequence: Bitcoin fell below $81,000, then recovered to around $81,800 by the U.S. close as some market pressures eased. CoinDesk attributed the late improvement partly to cooler heads on the cryptography issue, lower interest rates after their reversal, and a bounce in technology stocks. That is the report’s explanation of the session, not a proven causal breakdown.

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In a separate item, CoinDesk summarized a State Street survey of 300 asset managers, asset owners, and wealth managers: about 51% of respondents expected digital assets to become mainstream within five years, compared with 11% in 2024, and institutions held an average of 11% of their portfolios in digital assets. These are survey figures as reported by CoinDesk, not independently verified here, and they do not establish why Bitcoin moved that day.

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