Weekly Wrap: Bitcoin Falls as U.S. Market Crashes

Cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (CRYPTO: $BTC) remain under pressure due to a U.S. market rout. Bitcoin’s price was trading sideways at $75,000 U.S. on Nov. 6, its lowest level since late August. Ethereum (CRYPTO: $ETH) was also down and trading at $2,200 U.S. after digital assets were pulled lower amid a market selloff over the past week.  

Every corner of the U.S. market plunged on Nov. 5 as investors grow increasingly worried about the artificial intelligence (A.I.) trade. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 1,800 points on the day and the technology-laden Nasdaq Composite index dropped 5.5% and entered a correction. 

The market crash hit digital assets that were already reeling from the $6.3 billion U.S. theft at crypto exchange Binance. There are also concerns about the future of the Clarity Act legislation after the left-leaning Democratic Party won control of the U.S. Congress in midterm elections. The Binance hack and fate of the Clarity Act are hurting sentiment towards crypto, say analysts. 

Here’s what else happened with cryptocurrencies over the past week…

Binance Withdrawals Top $10 Billion: Customer withdrawals from Binance accelerated to $10.97 billion U.S. days after the crypto platform experienced a massive theft. Binance clients pulled nearly $11 billion U.S. in crypto and cash from the trading exchange after it resumed withdrawals on Nov. 1. Investors fled Binance following a record breaking $6.3 billion U.S. hack of the platform on Oct. 30. U.S. authorities say North Korea was behind the theft.

Tether Owns $11.5 Billion Worth Of Bitcoin: Leading stablecoin provider Tether (CRYPTO: $USDT) reported owning 150,000 Bitcoin worth $11.50 billion U.S. The Bitcoin holdings were disclosed as part of the company’s latest report on the reserves backing its USDT stablecoin. 
Tether also reported having more than 730 million users of its stablecoin worldwide and an average 30 million digital wallets that hold USDT coin.

Circle Cuts 5% Of Workforce: Stablecoin issuer Circle Internet Group (NYSE: $CRCL) has announced plans to cut 5% of its workforce. The company announced the job cuts along with its third-quarter financial results, attributing a $9.1 million U.S. restructuring charge to the headcount reduction. Circle Internet Group had 1,100 full-time employees at the start of this year. The 5% workforce reduction would eliminate about 55 workers.

Strategy Resumes Bitcoin Buying: Serial cryptocurrency acquirer Strategy (NASDAQ: $MSTR) resumed its purchases of Bitcoin, adding 811 of the digital tokens to its holdings over the past week. The company led by Chairman Michael Saylor bought 811 Bitcoin for $65.5 million U.S. at an average price of $80,846 U.S. between Oct. 26 and Nov. 1. Strategy's holdings now stand at 849,327 BTC worth $65.9 billion U.S. The previous week, Strategy had paused its Bitcoin buying leading into the company’s quarterly financial results.

BitGo Launches Institutional Trading Business: Crypto infrastructure firm BitGo Holdings (NYSE: $BTGO) launched a new institutional trading and financial solutions business. Called “BitGo Global Markets,” the new business brings together global liquidity, execution, financing, derivatives, and settlement services, according to the company. The new institutional trading division is being led by former NYDIG executive Pete Janney following BitGo's acquisition of NYDIG's institutional and trading business earlier this year.

Bitmine Resumes Stock Buybacks: Bitmine Immersion Technologies (NYSE: $BMNR) is ramping up its stock buybacks as it nears its goal of owning 5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply. Bitmine resumed its share repurchases at the end of October after a 10-week pause. The Ethereum treasury firm bought 2.04 million of its own shares over the past week at an average price of $22.48 U.S., spending about $45.9 million U.S. total on the buybacks. It was Bitmine's first share repurchase of any kind since Aug. 17 of this year.

Morgan Stanley Tokenizes U.S. Equities: Investment bank Morgan Stanley (NYSE: $MS) moved quickly to tokenize U.S. equities following the launch of new tokenization infrastructure on Wall Street. Morgan Stanley is among the first banks to use the Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation's new tokenization infrastructure to tokenize popular U.S. stocks. Digital versions of stocks can be traded around the clock and offer faster settlement times, according to advocates. On social media, Morgan Stanley said that it has tokenized both U.S. stocks and government Treasury bonds.

Bitcoin ETFs See $430 Million Of Outflows: Exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that track the spot price of Bitcoin experienced $430 million U.S. of outflows on Nov. 5 as equity markets melted down. The heavy outflows were led by leading Bitcoin ETFs managed by Fidelity Investments and BlackRock (NYSE: $BLK). Investors pulled money from the ETFs as Bitcoin’s price fell more than 5% to $75,000 U.S. For the week ended Nov. 5, about a dozen U.S.-listed Bitcoin ETFs saw cumulative outflows of $869.8 million U.S.

Hut 8 Stock Plunges On Poor Financial Results: The stock of Hut 8 (NASDAQ: $HUT) fell as much as 18% on Nov. 4 after the Bitcoin miner turned data centre operator posted poor quarterly financial results. Hut 8 posted an earnings per share (EPS) loss of -$1.23 U.S., which was worse than the loss of -$1.06 U.S. that had been expected on Wall Street. Revenue of $71.07 million U.S. was below the consensus analyst estimate of $75.8 million U.S. The company, which is building data centres to run A.I. models, also said that its loans and liabilities grew to $7.41 billion U.S. as of Sept. 30 this year.

Brazil’s Largest Crypto Exchange Hit By Theft: Mercado Bitcoin, Brazil's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said it was hit by a security incident that cost it $46.3 million U.S. in lost assets. The exchange said the incident did not affect customers or result in a data breach. The company also published the digital wallet addresses where the stolen crypto is headed to help security firms track the digital assets. Mercado Bitcoin's hack occurred days after the record $6.3 billion U.S. theft at Binance.