So far this year, Bitcoin and the Nasdaq have been performing quite differently. Tech stocks kept setting records on the back of the AI mania, while the primary cryptocurrency was struggling in a full-blown bear market. The same driving force underpinned both trends: Artificial Intelligence. It directed capital allocation and now appears to be shaping the daily performance of both tech stocks and crypto assets.

Two markets, one split

Bitcoin peaked at around $126,000 in October 2025, but fell sharply in the following months, bottoming just under $58,000 in early July. During the same timeframe, the Nasdaq 100 climbed about 23%.