Bitcoin dropped below $80,000 this weekend after the Wall Street Journal reported that the U.S. is rapidly evacuating personnel from embassies and military bases across the Middle East. According to a Friday memo to the Secretary of State from the Director of National Intelligence, Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel. The evacuations extend beyond earlier reports of diplomatic staff withdrawals from Saudi Arabia.
Bitcoin currently trades at $80,160, down 2.4% for the week. Ethereum fell 3.8% to $2,322, while Solana declined 3.2% to $101. The broader CMC20 index is down 2.3% over the same period. Over the past 30 days, Bitcoin has declined 4.8%, while major altcoins have averaged losses of 16.5%. Ethereum is off 13.6%, Solana 17.1%, XRP 17.4%, and Dogecoin 22.3%.
Privacy-focused tokens outperformed the broader market. Zcash gained 8% on the week and is up 135% year-to-date, while Monero has climbed 37%.
The cryptocurrency market faces significant catalysts this week. The Federal Reserve will decide on interest rates Wednesday at its Federal Open Market Committee meeting, followed by decisions from the European Central Bank on Thursday and the Bank of Japan on Friday. Q3 gross domestic product and September personal consumption expenditures data are scheduled for Thursday, along with earnings reports from Coinbase and Strategy. Robinhood will report earnings on Tuesday.
Bitcoin ETFs recorded $138 million in net outflows on Friday, while Ethereum ETFs posted $4 million in net inflows. A Solana trading bot called Bloom disclosed that attackers drained approximately $947,000 worth of SOL from multiple wallets by exploiting a third-party module, with the team pledging to reimburse affected users.
