Bitcoin Dips; Tech Stocks Tumble Before Earnings: Markets Wrap

As investors eye prospects of growth from tech companies’ earnings and Covid-19 cases surge, major indices close in the red.

article-image

SHUTTERSTOCK

share

key takeaways

  • Fireblocks has a $2 billion valuation after raising $313 million in Series D funding.
  • Andreessen Horowitz led a $20 million Series A funding round for digital wallet Valora.

Wall Street indices tumbled on Tuesday, hours before second-quarter earnings from tech giants like Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. Shares from both companies shed 7% and 2% intraday. 

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) also reversed its indoor mask-mandate, which could have contributed to the losses across the board. The agency recommended that fully-vaccinated people should wear masks inside in areas with higher Covid-19 rates. 

The Nasdaq Composite was pulled lower, dropping 1.4% intraday. Tuesday’s trading for the index was close to benchmarking it’s biggest one-day plunge since May. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.4% and S&P declined 0.7%. Big losers include United Parcel Service (UPS) and Moderna, whose shares fell 8% and 4%, respectively. Tesla Inc. declined 3% too.

Equities

  • The Dow plunged -0.24% to 35,058.
  • S&P 500 declined -0.47% to 4,401.
  • Nasdaq fell -1.21% to 14,660.

Following a wild day for price action when bitcoin hiked 14%, the cryptocurrency has since simmered down.

Tuesday’s trading had a shallow dip after surpassing $40,000 less than 24 hours before. The almost three-month benchmark high was short lived as the crypto fell around 4% throughout the day. Rumors that Amazon may accept bitcoin as payment may have led to the rush, but the unconfirmed whispers about the tech giant were quickly dispelled. 

On Tuesday, there was a slew of crypto-related funding round news. Andreessen Horowitz (A16z), led a $20 million Series A funding round for a mobile-first digital wallet Valora, Blockworks reported. Other funding announcements include blockchain unicorn and infrastructure firm Fireblocks, which raised $310 million.

Also, Coinbase released data Tuesday after looking at 20 major crypto exchanges. The report revealed that ether’s trading volume grew faster than bitcoin’s in H1 of this year. Despite its volume growing faster, there’s still a significant gap in the two cryptocurrencies. According to their findings, bitcoin’s total trading volume was around $2.1 trillion while ether’s was at $1.4 trillion.

Bitcoin has maintained support around $38,000. Ethereum has continued to stay afloat above $2,000. The second-biggest cryptocurrency fell 8% on Tuesday. Both were trading lower at press time.

DeFi

  • Uniswap is trading at $18.41 with a total value locked of $4,098,197,805 down -1.8% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET. 
  • Chainlink is trading at $18.93, advancing 1.8% with trading volume at $1,143,122,658 in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • DeFi:ETH is 31% at 4:00 pm ET.

Crypto

  • Bitcoin is trading around $37,879.88, down -3.80% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • Ether is trading around $2,36.81, shedding -5.86% in 24 hours at 4:00 pm ET.
  • ETH:BTC is at 0.059, declining -1.26% at 4:00 pm ET.
  • VIX is up 9.33% to 19.22 at 4:00 pm ET.

Insight

“Markets function to empty the wallets of the investor who doesn’t have conviction. If an investor is just chasing price and headlines, they will always buy at the top and sell at the bottom,” Charlie Silver, CEO of Permission.io, said in a note. “Conviction and long term commitment are the antidote to markets that are extremely volatile like the one we are presently seeing in crypto. If you don’t have conviction and understanding you shouldn’t participate.”

Commodities

  • Brent crude is little changed at $74.37 per barrel, falling -0.17%.
  • Gold is up 0.02% to $1,799.30.

Fixed Income

  • US 10-year treasury yields 1.236% as of 4:00 pm ET.

Currencies

  • The US dollar fell -0.23%, according to the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index.

In other news…

Saber Labs, Fireblocks, and Eco all announced new funding rounds on Tuesday, Blockworks reported.  Eco, a digital wallet, raised $60 million in new funding, along with Saber Labs who scored $7.7 million in a seed round led by Grace Capital. Fireblocks, a digital asset platform, now has a valuation of $2 billion, after raising $313 million in Series D funding.

We’re watching out for…

  • Federal Reserve policy meeting (FOMC) ends on Wednesday.
  • US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data is due on Thursday.

That’s it for today’s markets wrap. I’ll see you back here tomorrow.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Old Billingsgate

Mon - Wed, October 13 - 15, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

Industry City | Brooklyn, NY

TUES - THURS, JUNE 24 - 26, 2025

Permissionless IV serves as the definitive gathering for crypto’s technical founders, developers, and builders to come together and create the future.If you’re ready to shape the future of crypto, Permissionless IV is where it happens.

Brooklyn, NY

SUN - MON, JUN. 22 - 23, 2025

Blockworks and Cracked Labs are teaming up for the third installment of the Permissionless Hackathon, happening June 22–23, 2025 in Brooklyn, NY. This is a 36-hour IRL builder sprint where developers, designers, and creatives ship real projects solving real problems across […]

recent research

Research Report Templates.png

Research

Ethena Labs is leaping from its flagship synthetic dollar, USDe, to a full product suite—USDtb, iUSDe, and the Arbitrum-based Converge Chain—designed to marry crypto-native yields with TradFi-grade compliance. Our analysis shows how expanding into CME, ETF options, and tokenized Treasuries could lift protocol revenue from sub-$500 million in a bear case to several billion dollars if favorable regulation and institutional adoption align.

article-image

The L1’s Interwoven Stack is the most opinionated tech stack yet

article-image

Bitcoin is still rising, 11 years after the documentary film The Rise and Rise of Bitcoin

article-image

Arch Labs CEO told Blockworks that the team plans to launch a native token, but declined to give details

article-image

CEO Mike Silagadze tells Blockworks that the US is “open for business” and why its DeFi bank offering is the first of many

article-image

Doing one thing well and leaving everything else out is often what disruptive technologies do best