Bitcoin (BTC) traded around $78,000 on Thursday but continued to face resistance at the $80,000 threshold as new tensions between the United States and China weighed on risk appetite.
The White House accused Chinese entities of conducting deliberate campaigns to steal American artificial intelligence technology, adding to geopolitical uncertainty ahead of a planned summit between Trump and Xi.
In a statement released Thursday, Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said that foreign-based entities in China were conducting “industrial-scale campaigns to extract cutting-edge American AI systems.”
These campaigns apparently utilize tens of thousands of proxy accounts and jailbreak techniques to extract proprietary data from American AI models.
The administration indicated it would share information with American AI companies and consider measures to hold foreign actors accountable.
This announcement comes a few weeks before Trump’s scheduled visit to China in mid-May for talks with President Xi Jinping.
BTC opened at $78,193 on Thursday before dropping to around $77,465 early in the morning during trading. The range between $80,000 and $80,600 has consistently served as a ceiling throughout April.
On-chain data shows that the on-chain realized price of traders, at $76,800, has capped recent relief rallies. On Deribit, the $80,000 call option has become the most popular trade, recording a notional value of $1.78 billion.
This suggests that traders are positioning themselves for a bullish breakthrough that has not yet materialized, with call options (buy orders) outnumbering put options (sell orders), reflecting increased optimism among investors.
