Bitcoin flat near $64,000 as oil hits a one-month high and Kimi AI selloff lingers

Bitcoin remained relatively stable around $64,200 on Monday, showing little change during the trading day but marking a 3% increase over the week. The cryptocurrency market appeared to be balancing two opposing influences: a rise in oil prices driven by ongoing conflict-related escalations and the continuing impact of Moonshot AI's release of its Kimi K3 model. Ether outperformed peers with a 5% weekly gain, trading near $1,860, while other major cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Solana, BNB, and Dogecoin saw minimal movement. One exception was Hyperliquid's HYPE token, which dropped 10% for the week amid a general risk-off market sentiment without any specific catalyst.

The surge in oil prices added inflation concerns back into focus, as Brent crude climbed approximately 4% to $91.42 per barrel, reaching the highest level since June. This increase was driven by U.S. and Iranian strikes expanding beyond military targets, intensifying fears that inflation could rise again and potentially prompt the Federal Reserve to reconsider holding interest rates steady. The heightened geopolitical tensions and resultant inflation worries exerted downward pressure on risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.

Simultaneously, the market continued to process the ripple effects from Moonshot AI's Kimi K3—an open-weight AI model from China that topped a widely followed coding benchmark. Its performance sparked a selloff in semiconductor stocks, which negatively impacted crypto due to their usual correlation with these equities. The selloff was pronounced in Asia, exemplified by South Korea’s Kospi dropping 3.5% as markets reopened after a holiday. Although U.S. tech futures showed some recovery, the broader concerns about the AI trade and chip stocks persisted.

Looking ahead, the key driver for both crypto and technology sectors will be corporate earnings rather than macroeconomic data, as no major U.S. economic reports are expected this week. Analysts will focus on results from Alphabet, Tesla, and Intel across the week to gauge whether the AI-related capital expenditures and the transition toward AI-driven investments will maintain momentum, potentially stabilizing sectors affected by last week’s volatility.