Bitcoin has fallen below $70,000 on Nov. 13, with Xapo Bank CEO Seamus Rocca pointing to demand for Anthropic’s upcoming stock market listing as a source of pressure on the cryptocurrency.
Summary
- Rocca attributes Bitcoin’s latest decline to investors raising cash for allocations in Anthropic’s IPO.
- Anthropic’s offering attracted roughly six times the available shares in orders, according to Bloomberg reporting.
- US Bitcoin ETF withdrawals and Strategy’s pending index removal have accompanied the cryptocurrency’s decline.
- The Xapo Bank chief views the selling as temporary capital rotation and favors steady accumulation.
In comments supplied to crypto.news, Rocca said Bitcoin had weathered a difficult combination of US inflation concerns, political uncertainty, cybersecurity incidents and selling across technology stocks.
Despite the fall through $70,000, he argued that the cryptocurrency had held up well against the volume of negative developments.
His explanation centers on investors selling assets they can readily trade to fund allocations in a large initial public offering. He identified Anthropic’s subscription process as the latest draw on available capital.
Anthropic’s IPO draws orders far beyond available shares
“In my view, the latest dip can be attributed to the opening of Anthropic’s subscription books,” Rocca said, describing investors pulling money from liquid markets to pursue the listing.
Reuters reported on Nov. 12, citing Bloomberg, that Anthropic’s offering had received approximately six times as many orders as shares available. Bankers had told prospective buyers that existing investors would receive priority, potentially leaving other applicants with smaller allocations.
The same report put the proposed share sale at up to $64.4 billion, involving 825 million shares priced between $70 and $78. Trading was expected to begin on Nasdaq on Nov. 19 under the ticker ANT, with a potential valuation reaching $1.4 trillion.
Rocca described the transaction as a contender for the largest public listing in history. In his account, the prospect of an early trading gain encourages investors to free up money before allocations are settled, putting pressure on assets such as Bitcoin.
Bitcoin selling recalls the SpaceX listing, Rocca says
“We saw this exact dynamic play out during the SpaceX IPO earlier this year, when massive capital deployments temporarily drained liquidity from Bitcoin,” he said.
“When an IPO of this scale comes to market, the lure of a quick return is strong, and liquid assets like Bitcoin are often the first source of funding when investors scramble for allocations.”
The comparison has appeared elsewhere in market commentary. In a Nov. 10 post discussed in earlier Bitcoin market coverage, analyst Crypto Rover compared Bitcoin’s correction ahead of Anthropic’s planned offering with its decline before SpaceX’s June listing.
Rover put the earlier pullback at nearly 29%, compared with approximately 16% ahead of Anthropic’s debut at the time of his post. His comparison concerned the timing and size of the declines; Rocca’s comments identify investor funding decisions as the mechanism behind his interpretation.
ETF withdrawals and Strategy’s index exit add pressure
Separate market figures show selling through US investment products. During the drop below $70,000, Bitcoin traded near $68,750 early on Nov. 13 after briefly reaching nearly $68,500 on Binance.
The same market coverage cited Farside Investors data showing $299.8 million in net withdrawals from US spot Bitcoin ETFs on Nov. 11. BlackRock’s IBIT accounted for $269.7 million, with combined withdrawals across five consecutive sessions reaching approximately $1.44 billion.
CoinGlass figures cited in that report put cryptocurrency liquidations at roughly $1.23 billion over 24 hours. Bitcoin positions accounted for around $677.5 million, including $653.5 million in longs.
Strategy faces a different institutional event. Its MSCI index removal takes effect at the close of Nov. 30, requiring adjustments by funds following the affected benchmarks. The removal concerns Strategy shares and does not automatically require an equivalent sale of its Bitcoin holdings.
Rocca favors accumulation during the decline
Alongside the IPO, Rocca cited unstable technology valuations following Jensen Huang’s departure from Nvidia and index rebalancing around Strategy. He characterized the resulting price pressure as capital moving between investments, while maintaining that Bitcoin’s underlying investment case remained intact.
His preferred response is directed at investors holding Bitcoin over several years, rather than traders seeking allocations in a new stock listing.
“Chasing oversubscribed listings or reacting to forced institutional flows is a day trader’s game,” he said.
“Disciplined investors look past the distraction, using these consolidation phases as an opportunity for steady accumulation and focusing on how to put their Bitcoin wealth to work over a multi-year horizon, rather than capitulating into cash near a cyclical low.”
