Bitcoin Falls Below $79K as Oil Tops $105 After Summit Stalls

On May 15, bitcoin fell below $79,000, briefly dropping to $78,611 on Bitstamp around 10 a.m. EDT after a U.S.-China summit ended without breakthroughs. The token recovered above $79,000 and traded near $79,400 by 1:40 p.m. EDT, and its market capitalization slipped below $1.6 trillion.

The decline followed a recent surge to about $82,000 after the U.S. Senate Banking Committee voted 15-9 to advance the CLARITY Act. The summit did not ease U.S. export controls on advanced semiconductors and AI hardware and highlighted the dispute over Taiwan.

Energy markets reacted to comments from President Trump, who told pool reporters aboard Air Force One that Washington may have to carry out “clean-up work” in Iran. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude briefly topped $105 per barrel, while Brent rose roughly 3% to settle near $109 per barrel. Equities pulled back, with the S&P 500 retreating from a record near 7,500 to about 7,450 and both the Nasdaq Composite and Dow Jones Industrial Average down under 1% by Friday afternoon.

Trading data showed the price swing triggered heavy liquidations across cryptocurrency markets, wiping out about $433 million in leveraged positions. Long positions accounted for roughly $382 million of that total. For bitcoin specifically, about $86 million in long positions and $11.5 million in short positions were liquidated.

Bitcoin had reached $82,000 at least three times over the prior five days before Friday’s drop. Investors are monitoring export-control policy, AI chip supply chains and geopolitical signals from Washington and Beijing, factors market participants say could keep volatility elevated.