Cash falls to 88 cents on the dollar but Bitcoin is up to $3.26 if you bought before the ‘crash’

If you hold either US dollars or Bitcoin, then you're a little poorer this morning than when you went to bed last night. It doesn't matter whether there's cash in your pocket or sats in your wallet; both have less purchasing power today than they did yesterday. That's because Bitcoin is down, the dollar is down too, but the feeling isn't quite the same. That quiet little subtraction before you have even had coffee usually doesn't take the value of the dollar itself into account, unless you live outside the US. Today’s charts make it obvious. BTC slid roughly 3% overnight, the kind of move that feels personal when you are holding it, the kind of move that makes people say “see,” like it proves a point. Bitcoin drops 3% overnight At the same time, the dollar weakened on the foreign exchange side, roughly 0.7% on the day by the DXY gauge, which is small enough to shrug at, and large enough to matter if you are keeping score. The dollar falls 0.7% overnight The difference is that one of these moves gets called a dump, and the other gets called background noise, because the paper in your wallet still says one dollar. That is the trick with cash, it looks the same while it changes. Related Reading Major bank issue order to buy into risk as dollar hits new lows which could flip Bitcoin’s next move HSBC wants investors aggressively long risk, but Bitcoin’s DXY link is basically dead right now. Jan 28, 2026 · Gino Matos The dollar isn't worth a dollar anymore The scrumpled-up dollar you recently found in an old jacket you haven't worn in three years feels the same, but trust me, it's not. If you're struggling to understand this, Frank Reynolds has a great explanation. Jokes aside, if you want the cleanest version of why, you start with purchasing power. The Bureau of Labor Statistics CPI-U index, not seasonally adjusted, was 300.840 in Feb 2023, according to the BLS. The latest complete CPI-U print we have as of now is Dec 2025 at 324.054 on FRED. That is the slow part of...