Bitcoin tumbled to around $73,000 on Thursday, down 11% from highs above $82,500 earlier this month, as traders brace for a liquidity squeeze tied to U.S. Treasury operations. Michael Kramer, founder and CEO of Mott Capital Management, warned that $150 billion in Treasury settlements between May 28 and June 5 could drain liquidity from markets, pushing Bitcoin lower. The key $75,000 support level has been lost and now acts as resistance, with technical analysts watching $72,000 as the next critical floor.
The liquidity threat Kramer sees
Kramer says Bitcoin serves as a better liquidity indicator than most assets. The Treasury settlements starting today effectively pull cash out of the financial system, and he expects that to hit Bitcoin hardest. "Treasury settlements draining liquidity could lead Bitcoin much lower," Kramer stated. The timing isn't great — the move comes just after Bitcoin failed to hold $75,000, a level that had been support since late April.
Two camps on where Bitcoin ends 2026
Analysts are sharply divided on the outlook. Galaxy Digital's Alex Thorn cut his year-end Bitcoin target to $120,000 from $185,000, citing the macro headwinds. But Standard Chartered, Bitwise, and VanEck all maintain targets in the $180,000 to $200,000 range. Technical analyst Michaël van de Poppe pegs $72,000 as the line in the sand — if it holds, he sees over 70% odds of Bitcoin topping $80,000 again. If it doesn't, the next stop could be much worse.
Bitcoin Hyper presale still running
Amid the price turbulence, Bitcoin Hyper — a Bitcoin Layer 2 project integrating the Solana Virtual Machine — is pushing through its presale, having raised $32 million at $0.0136 per token with 36% APY staking. The project is betting on cross-chain interoperability as a narrative that might hold up even in a risk-off environment. Whether that bet pays off depends on whether Bitcoin can hold $72,000 in the coming days.
The Treasury drain runs through June 5. That's the next hard deadline for Bitcoin to prove it can hold the floor.
