The total cryptocurrency market cap has fallen by approximately $200 billion over the past 10 days, as financial markets reacted to the U.S. midterm elections and a sharp Wall Street decline.
Bitcoin (BTC) ended the week down about 3% at $75,550, according to market data. The asset touched $74,800 on Friday, its lowest level since mid-August, before rebounding by nearly $1,000.
Election Volatility and Wall Street Correlation
Before the elections, Binance suffered the largest hack in USD terms, with reports of losses around $6.3 billion. Bitcoin and most altcoins fell immediately, with BTC dropping to $76,000. The exchange promised to cover all user losses, and the cryptocurrency recovered some ground over the weekend, even challenging the $79,000 resistance on Monday before being rejected.
On Tuesday, as election results indicated a Democratic sweep in key races, bitcoin stood at $78,000 before tumbling alongside Wall Street futures to $75,600—its first time at that level in seven weeks. Once the election uncertainty faded, BTC and Wall Street rallied on Wednesday afternoon, with bitcoin rocketing to $81,000 within about an hour. It remained above $80,000 for roughly 18 hours.
Thursday brought a massive crash, with bitcoin moving in tandem with Wall Street and falling to $75,000. The decline was exacerbated on Friday when the U.S. jobs report smashed expectations, pushing BTC to $74,800.
Market Data
As of the weekly overview, the total crypto market cap stood at $2.640 trillion, with 24-hour volume of $106 billion and bitcoin dominance at 57.2%.
Among major cryptocurrencies, ETH traded at $2,210 (-0.4% weekly) and XRP at $1.19 (-5.9%). Even sharper declines were seen in XRP, TRX, NEAR, HYPE, XLM, and BCH, while ZEC defied the trend.
This Week’s Crypto Headlines
- Binance gains $3.4B in tracked assets after hack: On-chain data showed that Binance’s tracked assets increased by over $3.4 billion a few days after the hack, suggesting users may be returning. North Korea refuted allegations that it was behind the incident.
- Strategy resumes bitcoin accumulation: The largest corporate holder of bitcoin acquired 811 BTC and repurchased $208 million worth of STRC. Strive also bought more BTC, though its purchase was significantly lower than the previous week’s.
- CLARITY Act could face 2-year delay: An analyst suggested the highly anticipated CLARITY Act could be delayed at least a couple of years following the Republican midterm losses.
- Democrats considering new crypto market structure bill: Reports emerged that House Democrats are drafting a broader crypto market structure bill to enhance SEC oversight and consumer protections.
- Mercado Bitcoin assures users after $38M breach: Brazil’s Mercado Bitcoin suffered a $38 million exploit but promised to make users whole, similar to Binance’s commitment.
- OKX-ICE tokenization plan faces objections: Over 60 publicly traded companies, including Apple and Boeing, objected to plans by OKX and ICE to tokenize their shares, citing concerns over share prices, liquidity, and shareholder rights amid regulatory evaluation.
For a complete price analysis of Ethereum, Ripple, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Hyperliquid, click here.
