Bitcoin briefly pushed above $90,000 ahead of the U.S. market open but failed to hold the level, retreating as risk assets broadly advanced through the American trading session.

Crypto bulls remain largely sidelined as the so-called debasement trade dominates, with traditional markets extending gains. Gold was the clear standout on Monday, surging 2% to a fresh record of $4,475 an ounce. Silver climbed 1.6%, earlier touching its own all-time high just below $70 per ounce.

Around midday in New York, the Nasdaq and S&P 500 were each higher by about 0.6%, while the U.S. dollar index slipped 0.3%.

After racing past $90,000 during Asian and European hours, bitcoin (BTC) has eased back toward $89,000. While still higher on a 24-hour basis, it continues to lag most major asset classes. Ether (ETH), Solana (SOL) and XRP were also in positive territory on Monday but have similarly pulled back from pre-U.S. session highs.

AI-linked crypto stocks outperform

Within crypto-related equities, companies tied to AI infrastructure and high-performance computing significantly outperformed. The sector received a boost from Alphabet’s agreement to acquire AI infrastructure startup Intersect for $4.75 billion. Alphabet said the deal will help bring additional data center and power generation capacity online more quickly, while accelerating energy development and innovation.

Hut 8 (HUT) led miners higher, jumping 17.5%. IREN (IREN), Cipher Mining (CIFR) and Bitfarms (BITF) followed with gains ranging from 5% to 10%.

Elsewhere in the crypto equity space, Circle (CRCL), Coinbase (COIN), Bullish (BLSH) and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) advanced 2%–4%, while bitcoin treasury bellwether Strategy (MSTR) edged up just 0.3%.

Gold strength still weighs on bitcoin

ByteTree analysts Charlie Morris and Shehriyar Ali reiterated that bitcoin and broader crypto markets are unlikely to lead until the current bull run in precious metals cools.

They noted that bitcoin has still outperformed metals over the past several years, but silver’s ongoing parabolic rally has now nearly matched BTC’s return over the last eight years.