Bitcoin has seen a decrease of nearly 5%, dropping to $65,000 for the first time in a week, as the overall crypto market capitalization fell by 7%. Ethereum’s price also took a hit, experiencing an 8.5% drop in just 24 hours. Coinglass reported that over 277,000 traders liquidated assets totaling $877.79 million within the same timeframe.

The decline in BTC price can be attributed to a pre-halving pullback and miner capitulation. There is an expectation in the market that the halving will trigger a new bullish cycle for Bitcoin. Typically, a pullback occurs when traders anticipate a short-term peak before the halving event and start taking profits.

Leading up to the last halving in 2020, a similar pullback took place about a week prior to the event, mirroring the recent price movements. In anticipation of the halving, many miners have ceased BTC mining due to increased difficulty and operational costs. This week, the difficulty of Bitcoin mining reached a record high.

Bitcoin’s network has mechanisms in place to adjust difficulty levels to maintain a consistent block time, compensating for changes in total hashing power. When miners capitulate, the total hashing power decreases, prompting the network to lower the difficulty, potentially making mining more profitable for remaining miners.

However, the recent liquidation could also be fueled by investor skepticism. Maraton Digital suggested earlier this week that this year’s halving may not have a significant impact on BTC price, as the token had already peaked early on due to substantial inflows from Bitcoin ETFs.

In other news, the US government has emerged as the top holder of Bitcoin globally, with $15 billion in assets. Additionally, there are reports that Hong Kong is set to approve its first Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

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