The world’s largest cryptocurrency is having the type of week that makes you post a Notes app apology on your Instagram story. Bitcoin fell for its fifth straight day yesterday, deepening a slump that has wiped out more than $160 billion of the coin’s market value since Monday.

For context, bitcoin started the week at nearly $74,000—a far cry from its October record of more than $126,000. Yesterday, it traded near $61,000, a four-month low.

What just happened? Strategy, a company that reshaped its whole business around hoarding bitcoin, disclosed on Monday that it sold some holdings for the second time ever. Though the company offloaded only a sliver (32 of its 843,706 coins), the move still spooked others into selling, because Strategy is the world’s largest corporate bitcoin holder, and it has typically followed a “never sell” mantra.

Strategy’s sale may have set off this week’s tumble, but…

…it’s not the main reason for bitcoin’s troubles

Since mid-May, investors have pulled more than $4 billion from bitcoin ETFs, marking their longest-ever streak of outflows. That’s a big deal, because “ETF flows are the primary driver of BTC price appreciation,” a Citi analyst told CNBC.

Analysts say several factors are causing the coin’s price to suffer, even as Big Tech carries the traditional stock market to new heights. Those include uncertainty from the war in Iran and concerns that a landmark crypto-friendly bill may not pass this year.

Another narrative is emerging: Investors appear to be withdrawing from bitcoin and other digital assets to invest in AI holdings instead, according to Bloomberg. Strategy’s chairman argued as much yesterday: “This is a capital rotation, not a bitcoin impairment,” he posted on X.

Looking ahead…some analysts think bitcoin is nearing the end of its bear market phase, which it cycles through every four or so years.—ML

Bolton reportedly pleads guilty to mishandling classified info. Former Trump administration national security advisor turned Trump critic John Bolton reached a deal with the Justice Department to plead guilty to one count of mishandling classified materials, the Associated Press reported. Bolton was charged last year with 18 counts of improper use of classified info after he allegedly shared it with family members while writing his memoir. As part of the deal, Bolton would have to pay a $2.25 million fine but could avoid jail time, depending on a judge’s decision. A longtime Republican diplomat, Bolton served in Trump’s first administration for more than a year before the president fired him in 2019 over foreign policy disagreements. Bolton then published a book that was critical of Trump’s decision-making.—AE

Hezbollah rejected the latest ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon. The deal, which had been brokered by the Trump administration, stipulated that Hezbollah would withdraw from the region of Lebanon that borders Israel and completely stop attacks. But Hezbollah, which is backed by Iran, did not participate in the negotiations and refused to agree to the terms before the ceasefire even took effect. In a statement yesterday, Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said a ceasefire would need to include Israel stopping attacks and withdrawing from Lebanon. Israeli Minister of Defense Israel Katz said yesterday that the military operation in Lebanon would continue “at this stage.”—HVL

Kevin O’Leary scales back his Utah data center, following backlash. Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary is saying “you’re dead to me” to much of his proposed 40,000-acre data center after community members and some lawmakers protested the project. In a letter to the Utah Senate, O’Leary said he’d cut the proposed acreage in half in response to the backlash. Critics were concerned with the data center’s potential impact on land, water, and air quality, which O’Leary said were exaggerated. It’s perhaps the most high-profile example of the mounting resistance to the construction of AI data centers across the US.—AE

The USDA announced this week that the New World screwworm—a flesh-eating fly that had been successfully kept out of the US for decades after wreaking havoc on cattle herds—has entered the country.

So far, it’s only one case. The agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) found a three-week-old calf in Texas with the larvae, marking the first case of screwworms in the state since 1966.

Screwworms are parasites that lay hundreds of eggs in a wound or orifice of a warm-blooded animal; those eggs then hatch and start eating the animal’s flesh. Beginning in the 1950s, the USDA was able to create a biological barrier by releasing millions of sterilized male flies from airplanes and pushing the screwworms south to Panama’s Darién Gap. But a year ago, cattle industry groups sounded the alarms about the risk of a return.

• The USDA claims that screwworms entering the US this year was inevitable and said it has invested in a new $750 million screwworm facility in South Texas. But the agency is also still navigating DOGE’s large workforce cuts, including 248 employees from the APHIS department in Texas.
• Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller accused the USDA on Wednesday of moving too slowly.

Big picture: Even a small infestation could jeopardize the already strained beef industry. The US cattle herd is at its lowest levels in 75 years.—MM

On the strength of a popstar biopic, a fashionable sequel, an underwhelming Star War, and two surprise horror megahits, the North American box office eclipsed $1 billion in May—a figure not reached since 2019, before Covid ravaged the movie industry.

Led by Michael ($210 million), The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($209 million), The Mandalorian and Grogu ($137 million), Obsession ($104.7 million), and Backrooms ($81 million), the May domestic haul reached three commas without the aid of a Marvel superhero movie for the first time ever. That success, not surprisingly, translated to theaters, too:

• Cinemark reported its best-ever domestic box office for May, crediting robust options along with younger moviegoers putting their phones down to head to the multiplex.
• AMC said this was its best-attended May globally, proving they don’t necessarily need Nicole Kidman to get butts in seats.

The future looks bright. Toy Story 5 comes out in two weeks and is expected to be a billion-dollar movie for Disney. The Scary Movie reboot, out today, is projected to debut with a $50 million weekend, while Steven Spielberg’s alien flick Disclosure Day could earn a similar figure next weekend. Meanwhile, some fans waited more than an hour yesterday to buy advanced Imax tickets for Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, out on July 17.—DL

On Fridays, the Brew’s Dave Lozo looks at a sports business story that says a lot more than just the final score of a game.

A bar on the Upper East Side of New York City ran a promotion for Game 1 of the NBA Finals that gave Knicks fans extra incentive to watch the game there: If the Knicks won, The Jeffrey would cover everyone’s tab, up to $100 per person.

Bar owner Andrew Freedman told Semafor he used Kalshi to hedge the cost by placing $5,000 on the Knicks to win, a position that would win $8,000 and help cover about half of the estimated bar tabs. If the Knicks beat the Spurs (which they did), the money lost on the bar tabs would be recouped through a winning investment.

What does Kalshi get out of this? With sports betting illegal in some states and legislation being introduced to ban the platform, Kalshi wants to spotlight how it can be used to hedge promotions like this one. It’s reportedly in conversations with other businesses to get into the hedging game.

But…if this catches on and every bar starts doing this, the competitive advantage over other establishments of offering free drinks if the local team wins would disappear.—DL