BTC Drops to $64,000 as IBM Faces New AI Challenges

Bassyonni

Published: February 23, 2026 7:11 PM ET

BTC Drops to $64,000 as IBM Faces New AI Challenges

The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence continues to reshape business landscapes, exerting significant pressure on both the stock market and cryptocurrency values. On Monday, IBM became a focal point of this disruption as new advancements in AI technology emerged. The AI company Anthropic revealed that its Claude code could potentially automate the modernization of COBOL systems, a critical programming language in financial and governmental operations.

AI’s Impact on COBOL Modernization

COBOL, which stands for Common Business-Oriented Language, plays a vital role in the U.S. financial ecosystem. According to Anthropic, COBOL is responsible for approximately 95% of ATM transactions in the country. The language has been in use for decades, running hundreds of billions of lines of code in production every day, impacting various sectors such as finance, transportation, and government.

As developers familiar with COBOL have retired, the loss of institutional knowledge has created a hiring challenge. Few universities now teach this language, making it increasingly difficult to find engineers proficient in COBOL. Historically, modernizing a COBOL system required extensive consulting efforts, often taking years to complete.

Market Reaction to AI Advancements

The potential of AI tools like Claude Code to streamline the modernization process sparked concern for IBM, a company deeply tied to consulting services in technology. Just before market close on Monday, IBM’s stock price fell by 11.2%, mirroring broader trends in the software sector. The Dow Jones, S&P 500, and Nasdaq all dropped more than 1% due to ongoing AI-related selloffs.

Cryptocurrency Market Fluctuations

In tandem with these events, the cryptocurrency market faced its own struggles. Bitcoin saw a decline of 5% over the previous 24 hours, bringing its price down to $64,000. Other cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum (ETH) and Solana (SOL) experienced similar losses.

Coinbase (COIN) declined by 4-7%
MicroStrategy (MSTR) and Circle (CRCL) also reported losses in this range
Galaxy Digital (GLXY) fell within the same percentage bracket

In contrast, cryptocurrency companies focused on AI infrastructure managed to perform well. IREN (IREN) led the pack with a 5% increase, followed by Cipher Mining (CIFR) at 3.4%, CleanSpark (CLSK) at 1.5%, and Hut 8 (HUT) at 0.7%.

Other Market Trends

The precious metals market showed a positive trend on the same day, with gold prices rising by 3.2% to reach $5,243 per ounce, while silver surged by 6.5% to $87.69 per ounce.

As artificial intelligence continues to drive change, observers remain cautious yet intrigued about its longer-lasting impacts on both traditional industries and emerging technological sectors.