Bitcoin and crypto market losses deepen after Jensen Huang's resignation

• Bitcoin slipped below $72,000 following Jensen Huang's resignation as Nvidia President and CEO.
• With Huang leaving the company's leadership with immediate effect, Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress interim CEO.
• Losses of 7% to 12% in NEAR, Bittensor, Render and Pearl accompanied a decline of over 5% in AI tokens.

Selling pressure deepened across Bitcoin (BTC) and the wider crypto market on Thursday following Jensen Huang's resignation as President and CEO of Nvidia (NVDA). Following the announcement, the leading cryptocurrency slipped below $72,000. Ethereum (ETH) briefly touched $1,990 before rebounding to $2,000, while BNB, XRP and Solana (SOL) are also trading lower by 4%, 2.8% and 3%, respectively.

Coinglass data showed that the sell-off triggered liquidations of $719.9 million over the past 24 hours, with long positions accounting for $642.2 million.

Who will lead Nvidia after Huang's resignation?

Selling pressure intensified after Nvidia announced Jensen Huang's resignation from his roles as President, CEO and a member of the company's board.

While the search for a permanent successor is under way, the board has named Nvidia's current executive vice president and CFO, Colette Kress, interim CEO. Until a new chief executive takes charge, Kress will also continue in her finance role.

Colette Kress said: “Nvidias strength has always come from its people, and together with our leadership team, I am committed to building on the extraordinary foundation Jensen created over the last 33 years,”

Both internal and external candidates will be assessed by the board in its search for a successor. Separately, Harvey C. Jones has been named Nvidia's first-ever chairman of the board.

Jones said: “Colette has helped lead Nvidia through a period of extraordinary growth and has a deep understanding of our business, customers, operations and financial position,”

Growing controversy over Huang's reported relationships with three women preceded his departure. Among them is Chinese businesswoman Huang Le, whom US authorities suspect of having links to Chinese intelligence. Unverified reports have also linked Huang to Kimberly Powell, Nvidia's Vice President of Healthcare, and another Nvidia employee.

After Jensen earlier acknowledged the affair with Powell, Nvidia's board initiated an independent investigation into the allegations. However, the company's official announcement did not explicitly cite the controversy as the reason for his exit.

At the time of writing, Nvidia is trading 5.8% lower at $163.60.

How sharply have AI tokens fallen alongside Nvidia shares?

AI tokens faced additional selling pressure following Nvidia’s latest announcement, with several leading tokens extending their losses. The category declined 5.6% over the past 24 hours, underperforming both Bitcoin and Ethereum.

Among major AI-related cryptocurrencies, NEAR Protocol (NEAR) led the losses with a 10% fall, compared with a 7% decline in Bittensor (TAO). Render (RENDER) shed 8%, while Pearl (PEARL) posted the steepest drop at 12%.

These declines left AI-related tokens among the crypto market's weakest-performing categories over the period.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin has recovered to $71,500 but remains down 3.7% over the past 24 hours.