Live markets: Bitcoin remains under pressure as Korea’s SK Hynix joins Micron in $1 trillion club

Bitcoin price updates: BTC slips back near $75,000 as investors turn elsewhere for gains

liveUpdated 12 minutes ago

Memory-chip stocks are attracting capital and attention as crypto markets settle into apathy.

By Stephen Alpher

Share this post

Just a $70 billion company one year ago, memory chip maker Micron Technology (MU) yesterday soared 21% and topped a $1 trillion valuation alongside a massive price target hike from UBS.

South Korea’s SK Hynix followed suit, rising 9.3% in Seoul on Wednesday to top $1 trillion in market value. It’s shares are higher by more than 1,000% over the past year. Earlier this month, peer Samsung Electronics also topped $1 trillion.

The memory stocks are one leg of the AI boom, with investors expecting chip shortages — and thus pricing power — to last into 2028.

Micron is higher by another 8% in U.S. premarket trading Wednesday morning, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq ahead 0.9%.

Sentiment in the gutter

Bitcoin (BTC), meanwhile, is down 1.5% over the past 24 hours at $75,800, as the action in AI-related names continues to draw attention and capital from crypto markets, which — despite decent bounces from the early February lows — remain engulfed in poor vibes.

“Nobody cares about bitcoin right now … and you just love to see it,” said analyst James Check earlier this week. “Bitcoin sentiment is in the absolute gutter, and the bears are measurably the most confident they have been in a long time.”

“Anger, annoyance, disappointment, it’s all happening right now.”

By CoinDesk Research

May 22, 2026

Spot volumes fell 14.0% to $1.05T in April, the lowest since November 2023. Total exchange volume declined 11.7% to $4.61T, a fourth straight monthly drop.

Why it matters:

Spot volumes fell 14.0% to $1.05T in April, the lowest since November 2023. Total exchange volume declined 11.7% to $4.61T, a fourth straight monthly drop.


 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *