Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 on Friday after August US payrolls came in far above forecasts, reviving expectations that the Federal Reserve will keep rates tighter for longer. The report also pushed Treasury yields and the dollar higher while gold declined, even as bitcoin ETFs had pulled in hundreds of millions of dollars the day before.
Bitcoin lost about 2% and slipped below $80,000 after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported nonfarm payrolls rose by 162,000 in August, far above the Reuters consensus of 56,000. The data landed at 8:30 a.m. ET and triggered an immediate cross-asset reaction. Unemployment held at 4.1%, while earlier payroll estimates were revised up by a combined 55,000.
Within hours, bitcoin traded back near $79,570, still up 0.83% over the prior 24 hours, suggesting the selloff cut into earlier gains rather than triggering a full-day collapse. Ethereum held up better, trading near $2,454 and up 1.41% over the same window.
Rate-hike odds jump on the jobs beat
The market read the strong payrolls print as a reason the Fed could hold policy tighter for longer. Reuters reported that the implied probability of a quarter-point September rate increase rose to 59% from 52% after the release.
Meanwhile, the two-year Treasury yield, most sensitive to Fed expectations, climbed 7.6 basis points, while the dollar index gained about 0.3% to 99.3. Higher yields and a stronger dollar both tighten financial conditions for assets priced in the currency. According to Reuters, gold fell between 1.7% and 2.2% as higher rate expectations reduced the appeal of a non-yielding asset.
ETF demand had surged just a day earlier
The reversal followed a strong showing for crypto funds. US bitcoin ETFs pulled in $730.87 million on Thursday, their third-largest single-day haul of 2026, as bitcoin surged back above $80,000. BlackRock's IBIT led the move with $453.96 million in fresh capital. Net assets across bitcoin ETFs climbed back above $100 billion to $103.34 billion.
Ether ETFs also rebounded that day, bringing in $141.39 million after Wednesday's outflow, with BlackRock's ETHA leading at $72.07 million. Before Friday's report, markets had expected roughly 56,000 new payrolls and a 4.1% unemployment rate, a forecast the actual print blew past.
The rate-hike repricing offers the clearest explanation for Friday's synchronized reaction across bitcoin, gold, and the dollar, even as stocks moved less uniformly in response.
Sources: CryptoSlate, Bitcoin News
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