Bitcoin price to $10,000 as markets barrel towards crash ‘reminiscent of 2008,’ Bloomberg analyst warns

Bitcoin’s price will plunge another 87% and fall to $10,000, warns Bloomberg Intelligence strategist Mike McGlone.

That’s after the top crypto already tumbled about 20% over the past two weeks, to trade at $76,500.

Bitcoin is now down 40% from its all-time high set in October.

“A traders delight, 2026 to be reminiscent of 2008, 2000-1,” McGlone wrote on LinkedIn.

The bleak outlook comes amid a broad asset selloff after US President Donald Trump picked Kevin Warsh to lead the Federal Reserve.

The tech selloff has also spooked investors, with Microsoft’s value falling by $357 billion in the second-largest selloff for a single trading session in history on Thursday.

Widely considered an inside-the-box hawk, Warsh has been critical of the Fed’s loose money policy and is seen to aggressively fight inflation.

He supported the Fed’s intervention in the 2008 global financial crisis, not part of the central bank’s mandate, but urged a speedy rollback.

The move is a U-turn by Trump, who has long insisted on lower interest rates. A hawkish Fed means fewer and slower rate cuts, meaning less money in the system to boost asset prices like Bitcoin, stocks, or gold.

To be sure, Warsh still needs to be confirmed by the Senate, and consensus on interest rates must be reached with other Fed governors.

Broad selloff

Markets reacted violently to the prospect of a hawk helming the Fed.

Cryptocurrencies as a whole fell below $2.7 trillion on Monday, down nearly 40% from their peaks. Gold, seen as a safe haven by investors, sank 5%, with silver down 7%. US stock futures also sank.

“Metals have peaked, on the back of cryptos in 2025, including gold,” McGlone warned.

Adding to the monetary tightening is “peak geopolitical intrigue,” Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, says.

This weekend, US President Donald Trump and Iran’s supreme leader, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, traded heated commentary over the Middle Eastern country’s nuclear programme and its violent treatment of protesters this month.

Trump has already sent the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and other warships into the Arabian Sea in January.

“Trump’s White House kept everyone on their toes, hinting at military action in Iran and threatening new tariffs,” he wrote.

Busy week ahead

Investors will parse a dense slate of market data this week for clues on the timing of any Federal Reserve rate cuts.

The calendar includes December JOLTS openings on Tuesday, January ADP payrolls on Wednesday, the January Challenger layoffs report and weekly jobless claims on Thursday, followed by the January employment report on Friday.

A broad slate of corporate earnings reports will also be released this week.

Magnificent Seven tech companies, Alphabet and Amazon, will report earnings, alongside updates from AMD, Palantir, and Qualcomm that may test the durability of speculative AI trades.

Meanwhile, earnings from PepsiCo, Philip Morris, Uber, and Walt Disney are expected to provide fresh signals about consumer resilience.

Crypto market movers

• Bitcoin is down 2.3% over the past 24 hours, trading at $76,873.
• Ethereum is down 6.9% over the past 24 hours to $2,250.

What we’re reading

• Japan’s biggest wealth manager reduces crypto positions after Q3 losses — DL News
• Iranians tap decentralised networks to reveal depths of chaos as thousands revolt: ‘Living in hell’ — DL News
• Bitcoin Sinks as Markets Price In a More Hawkish Fed — Unchained
• The ABCD investing framework — Milk Road
• VCs indulge in $1.4bn crypto bonanza in January — DL News

Lance Datskoluo is DL News’ Europe-based markets correspondent. Got a tip? Email him at [email protected].