Bitwise CEO Hunter Horsley told CNBC that Bitcoin's (BTC) drop below $70,000 gives institutions a "new crack at the apple" after assuming they had permanently missed lower entry points.

The asset manager reported over $100 million in inflows on Monday when Bitcoin traded around $77,000, as long-term holders grew uncertain amid a 30-day decline exceeding 22%.

Bitcoin traded at $70,500 at publication time, down from October's prediction by Standard Chartered's Geoff Kendrick that the asset would never fall below $100,000 again. The correction comes despite increasing regulatory clarity efforts and growing institutional participation.

Macro Selloff Hits Liquid Assets

Horsley acknowledged Bitcoin entered a bear market and is "getting swept up" with other liquid assets as investors sell everything tradeable.

The pattern extended across precious metals, with gold falling 11.43% from its January 28 all-time high of $5,609 to $4,968 and silver plunging 35.95% from its January 29 peak of $121.67 to $77.98.

Bitwise manages over $15 billion in institutional funds, with ETF trading volumes running three to four times higher than recent 30-day averages. BlackRock's spot Bitcoin ETF posted $231.6 million in inflows Friday following $548.7 million in outflows Wednesday and Thursday.

The Friday inflows marked only IBIT's 11th day of net positive flows in 2026. Thursday saw the fund's second-worst daily decline at 13% alongside record trading volume of $10 billion in shares.

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Retail Interest Spikes

Google Trends data showed worldwide searches for "Bitcoin" reached a score of 100 for the week starting February 1, the highest level in 12 months. The search spike coincided with Bitcoin briefly dropping to $60,000 on Tuesday, a level not seen since October 2024.

Horsley described institutional buyers as "seeing prices they thought that they'd forever missed," while long-time holders feel unsure about the pullback. The divergence reflects Bitcoin's unusual timing, falling during a period of regulatory progress rather than regulatory crackdowns.

ETF analyst James Seyffart noted Bitcoin ETF holders face their biggest losses since U.S. products launched in January 2024, with paper losses around 42% below the asset's previous highs. Recent outflows remain modest compared with inflows seen at last year's peak.

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