Bitcoin’s price has struggled this year. It's not “OG selling” or a “silent IPO.” It’s crypto contagion.
And the proof is simple: BTC has now fallen below $76,800.
The reason is that the rest of "crypto" is collapsing, and Bitcoin is still treated as a correlated asset. This isn't obvious because the total “crypto market cap” hasn't fallen off a cliff but that’s an illusion.
Most of that market cap is built on air: thousands of tokens with minuscule, illiquid floats.
When those projects fail and their insiders face margin calls, they can't sell their worthless altcoins in volume. The market is too thin. So, what's the most liquid asset they all own?
For years, the cycle was predictable. Insiders and early holders would use Bitcoin profits to fund and pump new token projects, then cash out and buy back into BTC later.
That cycle is broken. Disciplined capital from ETFs and large holders no longer "rotates" into altcoins.
The exit liquidity for the altcoin casino has vanished.
Now, the founders and large holders of these failing projects are stuck. Their altcoin bags are illiquid and collapsing.
To cover costs, prop up their other positions, or simply exit, they have only one major liquid asset to sell: their Bitcoin.
This creates a hidden, structural sell pressure. It’s not a broad market exit from Bitcoin; it's a forced liquidation from within the dying "crypto" ecosystem itself.
The contagion from thousands of failing altcoins is bleeding directly into the Bitcoin market.
The breakdown below $76,800 is a critical technical confirmation of this pressure.
It shows that this hidden selling is overcoming the baseline demand. Until this contagion trade is fully unwound until the altcoin bleed stops this overhang will remain a weight on Bitcoin's price.
The takeaway is clear: the collapse of the altcoin complex is not happening in isolation. It is forcing liquidations in the only real, deep market there is: Bitcoin.