Sophia Bennett
Crypto Analyst
For a market that normally thrives on drama, Thursday morning delivered something unusual: absolutely nothing from Bitcoin. While the rest of the financial world was buzzing about SpaceX, Nvidia, and a potential OpenAI stock market debut, Bitcoin sat in a tight range around $77,000 and waited.
As US markets opened on Thursday, the talk was about pretty much everything other than crypto. Bitcoin has been trading in a tight range around $77,000 for the last 72 hours, with price action remaining mostly muted while bigger stories captured the market's attention.
Four days of flat price action in crypto is not nothing. It is a market holding its breath.
SpaceX and OpenAI Are Pulling Capital Attention Away
The two biggest stories in markets right now have nothing to do with Bitcoin, and that itself is part of why crypto is struggling to find a catalyst.
Elon Musk's SpaceX filed for its IPO, expected to raise upwards of $80 billion at a valuation of $1.5 trillion or more. Alongside SpaceX, Sam Altman's OpenAI is expected to file for its own public offering, perhaps as soon as this week. Another AI giant, Anthropic, may also soon be joining the IPO move.
Tech bellwether Nvidia reported an earnings beat and strong guidance on Wednesday night, with shares modestly higher in early trading.
When the two biggest events in global markets are a $1.5 trillion rocket company IPO and a record‑breaking AI earnings print, crypto's flat price action becomes almost inevitable.
HYPE Is the One Bright Spot
Not everything in crypto is dormant. One token is doing something genuinely remarkable, and it is doing it against the market's overall direction.
Hyperliquid's native token HYPE hit a record high of $59.30 on Thursday, rising 16.5% over the past 24 hours. Most of the market had been positioned against the move, the long/short ratio sits at just 0.89, with more accounts shorting the token than going long for the first time since January. Funding rates had flipped negative, confirming the crowd was fading the rally.
That strategy did not work out. $33.5 million in short positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, compared to just $2 million in longs.
The rally is backed by strong fundamentals. The protocol has generated over $896 million in revenue over the past 12 months, with 97% of trading fees funnelled back into HYPE token buybacks. The move also follows institutional momentum, 21Shares and Bitwise launched US‑listed Hyperliquid ETFs on Nasdaq on May 12, drawing over $5 million in early inflows. Coinbase and Circle have also committed to stake HYPE to activate a new protocol upgrade, AQAv2.
Saylor Makes His Most Ambitious Statement Yet
While Bitcoin's price was doing nothing, Michael Saylor appeared on CNBC and said something that stopped people mid‑scroll.
"Our company will probably buy all of the bitcoin produced by the miners between now and 2140," Saylor said. Currently, roughly 20.3 million bitcoin have been mined, representing more than 95% of Bitcoin's total 21 million supply, leaving fewer than 1 million BTC still to be mined over the next century.
Strategy has already purchased 171,238 BTC in 2026, while only 63,450 BTC have been mined during the same period, meaning Strategy has acquired Bitcoin at a rate approximately 2.7 times the rate of new supply issuance.
Quantum Stocks Surge on $2B Government Grants
One more headline grabbed attention on Thursday, and it is relevant to the crypto space given the ongoing quantum threat debate.
The US Department of Commerce signed letters of intent to award just over $2 billion in grants to nine quantum computing companies under the CHIPS and Science Act, with the government taking minority equity stakes in each firm. IBM received the largest share at $1 billion, pledging to match it with a further $1 billion to build America's first dedicated quantum chip manufacturing facility. Infleqtion surged more than 35%, Rigetti and D‑Wave both jumped around 20%, and IBM gained roughly 4%.
For a crypto market already watching the quantum computing timeline carefully, this level of government commitment to the technology adds urgency to the conversation about Bitcoin's post‑quantum migration.
What Is Needed to Break the Flat Spell
Bitcoin at $77,000 for four days is not a crisis. It is a market waiting for a reason to move, and right now, the reasons are all pointing elsewhere.
Bitcoin's long‑term holder supply is approaching a record high, breaking a multi‑year downtrend, one of the more quietly bullish signals in the on‑chain data right now.
The SpaceX IPO, the GENIUS stablecoin bill vote, and Nvidia's continued AI dominance are all consuming the bandwidth that might otherwise flow into Bitcoin. When the dust settles on those stories, the market will look for its next direction. Right now, $77,000 is where it is standing still while it waits.