Bitcoin heads for sixth weekly loss as Anthropic’s blockbuster IPO looms
Bitcoin is on course for its sixth consecutive weekly decline, echoing a losing streak earlier this year when prices bottomed out near $60,000.
Bitcoin is now down 11% in November, 17% in the fourth quarter and 21% so far in 2026. The current losing streak falls short of the record nine-week decline set in 2022. One of next week's biggest market events is Anthropic's anticipated IPO, which has attracted orders for roughly six times the shares available.
Anthropic's Blockbuster Offering
The AI company aims to raise up to $64.4 billion through its IPO, alongside a $26 billion private placement, targeting a fully diluted valuation of about $1.4 trillion. Nvidia has committed around $10 billion to the private placement. Anthropic's annualized revenue run rate reached $81 billion at the end of October, up $10 billion in a month.
The prospect of investors freeing up capital for one of the blockbuster listings offers one possible explanation for the sell-off in bitcoin.
Historical Parallels
There are parallels with the run-up to SpaceX's IPO. The company began trading on June 12, 2026. Earlier that month, bitcoin fell roughly 20%, from around $75,000 to $60,000 between June 1 and June 5, before rebounding toward $68,000 after the IPO launched.
Additional Market Pressures
Other headwinds on the plunge include Jensen Huang's resignation as CEO of Nvidia and growing expectations of a 25-basis-point Federal Reserve rate increase at its Dec. 9 meeting.
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