Crypto Extends Losses as AI Concerns Trigger 11% Slide in IBM

Artificial intelligence-driven disruption rattled markets again Monday after Anthropic unveiled new capabilities in its Claude platform aimed at modernizing legacy COBOL systems — a business long considered a steady revenue source for IBM.

Anthropic said its Claude Code tools can significantly streamline COBOL modernization, automating much of the labor-intensive analysis that has traditionally required large consulting teams.

“COBOL [Common Business-Oriented Language] is everywhere,” Anthropic noted, estimating the language processes roughly 95% of U.S. ATM transactions. Hundreds of billions of lines of COBOL remain embedded in production systems across finance, aviation, and government infrastructure.

The challenge, the company added, is that many of the engineers who built and maintained those systems have retired, and relatively few universities continue to teach COBOL. As a result, institutional knowledge has dwindled, making modernization projects complex and costly.

Historically, upgrading COBOL environments has required “armies of consultants” spending years mapping workflows and dependencies — work that has benefited large enterprise vendors such as IBM. Anthropic claims Claude Code can now automate much of the exploration and analysis phase, potentially compressing timelines and reducing costs.

Investors reacted swiftly. Shares of IBM were down 11.2% less than an hour before the closing bell, as markets weighed the risk that AI tools could erode a key profit center tied to legacy system consulting.

The selloff extended beyond a single stock. Renewed AI-driven pressure on the broader software sector and private equity helped push the Dow Jones Industrial Average, S&P 500, and Nasdaq Composite each down more than 1% on the day.

“It’s becoming increasingly clear how pivotal the times we are in right now truly are,” wrote The Kobeissi Letter, highlighting the accelerating pace of AI-driven disruption.

Crypto markets, which have traded closely alongside high-growth software names in recent months, also came under heavy pressure. Bitcoin fell 5% over the past 24 hours to $64,000, while Ethereum and Solana posted similar declines, leaving many major tokens within reach of their Feb. 5 panic lows.

Crypto-linked equities slid as well. Coinbase, MicroStrategy (MSTR), Circle, and Galaxy Digital dropped between 4% and 7%.

The lone bright spot within the digital asset space was among bitcoin miners pivoting toward AI infrastructure models. IREN rose 5%, Cipher Mining gained 3.4%, CleanSpark added 1.5%, and Hut 8 edged up 0.7%.

Elsewhere, investors sought safety in hard assets. Gold climbed 3.2% to $5,243 per ounce, while silver surged 6.5% to $87.69, underscoring a broader risk-off tone across markets.