Market highlights
- Bitwise’s Solana Staking ETF (BSOL) saw US$545 million inflows in its first week of trading.
- JPMorgan’s 13F filing revealed it owns 2 million shares of Bitmine, providing ETH exposure.
- Metaplanet borrowed US$100 million against its current BTC holdings to buy more bitcoin.
- Ripple raised a US$500 million strategic investment at a US$40 billion valuation.
- Japan’s three largest banks received approval to trial its client-facing, yen-pegged stablecoin.
Markets Overview
The sell-off across risk assets continued this week as bearish sentiment prevailed over uncertainty around whether the U.S. Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will cut rates at its December 10 meeting. The likelihood of a 25-basis-point cut in December is currently 67%.
In economic data, the Reserve Bank of Australia left rates on hold at 3.6%. Similarly, the Bank of England left the official bank rate unchanged at 4%. And in the U.S., the ISM manufacturing PMI came in at 48.7, below the forecast 49.4, adding to the current bearish sentiment. In contrast, the ADP non-farm employment change came in above forecast, with 42,000 private-sector jobs added to the economy in October.
The better-than-expected employment data did little to move markets, given the current macro headwinds, including interest rates, trade policy and the U.S. government shutdown. Markets are presumably awaiting further certainty on these factors. The passage of the U.S. Senate funding bill on Monday, November 10 extends federal funding until January 30, 2026, potentially providing some relief for risk assets.
Weekly performance: S&P 500 -1.6%, Dow Jones -1.2%, Nasdaq -3.4%.
Looking ahead:
- U.S. core CPI – November 14 (tentative)
- U.S. core PPI; U.S. core retail sales – November 15 (tentative)
Crypto Market Sector Performance
Most crypto sectors saw gains this week as some assets began to recover from the recent sell-off. The recovery is presumably due to flat trading for much of last week, which saw many cryptocurrencies find or solidify support levels, and the end to the U.S. government shutdown. Despite last week’s developments sentiment is still subdued, with the crypto fear and greed index currently at 29 (fear).
Biggest winner
- File storage: Filecoin (+78.5%) continued its strong gains as 24-hour trading volume exceeded US$1.4 billion. The gains are presumably due to strength amongst truly decentralised and privacy-focused networks amid the early-November sell-off. The team also announced a partnership with Avalanche to build a cross-chain data bridge and an upcoming 25% token burn, which also buoyed price.
Biggest loser
- AI: ai16z (-23.3%) declined, presumably as investors exercise caution while the project transitions through its rebrand and token swap from ai16z to ElizaOS (ELIZAOS). Some exchanges also delisted the token, which may have added to sell pressure. Crypto’s AI sector, where it may have outperformed in other sell-offs, has remained subdued, presumably as speculation grows around whether AI is a bubble.
Bitcoin (BTC)
- Opened the week at US$110,533 and declined to a low of US$98,892 on Monday, November 3 due to bearish sentiment resulting from uncertainty around whether the FOMC will cut rates in December. It’s the first time bitcoin traded below US$100,000 since May. BTC traded sideways for much of last week, though it never closed below US$100,000, potentially establishing an area of support. Bitcoin has since regained some strength to start the new week, trading around US$105,500. (-1.4% 7D).
- BTC dominance ranged between 59% and 60.7% this week.
- Bitcoin investment products saw US$932 million of outflows this week, with the largest single day of outflows occuring in November 8, with US$558.4 million leaving funds.
As bearish sentiment prevailed throughout the week, a crypto whale opened BTC and XRP short positions with 20x leverage. The positions, worth US$140 milion were opened with a fresh Hyperliquid wallet. In the hours since the whale opened the trade, they were up US$3.1 million, though its average BTC entry price was US$102,978, which means its position could now be running at a loss.
The Commodities and Futures Trading Commission has leveraged its existing authority under the Commodity Exchange Act to approve leveraged spot crypto trading on U.S. exchanges. The new trading offerings could be available as early as next month.
In bitcoin buying news:
- American Bitcoin, which is backed by President Trump’s sons, added 139 BTC to its treasury, bringing its total holdings to 4,004 BTC, worth US$415 million.
- Tether bought 971 BTC, bringing its total holdings to 87,296 BTC, worth over US$8.8 billion.
- Metaplanet borrowed US$100 million against its bitcoin holdings to buy more BTC. The company’s loan and BTC accumulation strategy will account for bitcoin’s volatility. Metaplanet currently holds 30,823 BTC, worth US$3.2 billion.
- Strategy’s new STRE offering could raise up to US$715 million from investors in Europe. The proceeds will be used for everyday expenses, including acquiring more BTC. The company currently holds 641,692 BTC at an average purchase price of US$74,079 per bitcoin.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Ethereum (ETH)
- Opened the week at US$3,906 and sold off on U.S. interest rate uncertainty and the US$128 million Balancer exploit, which affected Ethereum chains. ETH reached a low of US$3,055 on Tuesday, November 4. The area around US$3,250 appears to have provided support throughout the week, as Ethereum has since recovered slightly to trade around US$3,500 as the new week begins (-1.6% 7D).
- Ethereum dominance started the week at 12.8%, declined to 11.5% and rebounded to 12.4%.
- Ethereum-focused funds saw outflows of US$438 million this week.
In a 13F filing on November 7, JPMorgan disclosed that it owns almost 2 million shares of Bitmine Immersion Technologies, worth approximately US$102 million (at September 30). While it’s not a direct invest in Ethereum, Bitmine’s sizeable ETH holdings indicate that the Wall Street firm is seeking exposure through more straightforward means than managing crypto wallets and interactions with exchanges. It’s akin to investors buying Strategy shares to gain exposure to bitcoin.
In Ethereum buying news:
- BitMine added US$389 million worth of ETH to its treasury, bringing its total holdings to over 3.5 million ETH, worth approximately US$12.4 billion.
Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
Altcoins
The altcoin season index is currently at 41 as bearish sentiment continues despite some signs of recovery across the crypto market.
Computer says yes (and no)
- Internet computer (ICP) continued its recent gains, rallying by 77.3%. The gains come as the team announced the DFINITY 2.0 vision, which aims to cut ICP inflation by 70%.
Burn UNI burn
- Uniswap (UNI) gained 68.9%. The decentralised exchange (DEX) rallied on Uniswap Labs Foundation’s announcement of UNIfictation, a joint proposal from the DEX and foundation to activate fee sharing between token holders, initiate UNI token burns, and unify the project’s teams under a single strategy.
See you in court
- Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) rallied 64.1%. The crypto AI alliance gained on news that it’s leading a class action against OceanDAO, alleging that Ocean misrepesented the sale of its community tokens and sold them when the protocol joined the Artificial Superintelligence Alliance.
Ripple effect
Never break the chain
New layer 1, who dis?
- Monad (MON) is set to launch on Monday, November 24. The project, backed by over US$240 million in funding, will distribute tokens to approximately 225,000 eligible users selected via criteria spanning DeFi, DEX usage, and long-term NFT holdings. The layer-1 network is designed to compete with Ethereum and Solana, offering high speeds and low transaction fees.
Crypto ETF News
Digital asset investment products saw outflows of US$1.2 billion this week, driven by continued bearish sentiment around uncertainty over a December U.S. rate cut and the historic government shutdown, though that has now been lifted until January 30, 2026 on passage of the Senate funding bill.
While other digital asset investment products saw outflows, Solana exchange-traded funds (ETFs) bucked the trend, with US$118.4 million of inflows, as the recent ETF launches buoy investor interest.
Bitewise removed a “delaying amendment” from its S-1 regristration for the Bitwise Dogecoin ETF. If the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) doesn’t object to the filing, the ETF could begin trading in 20 days.
The U.S. Treasury and Internal Revenue Service issued guidance, which allows digital asset investment products to offer staking rewards to investors.
Other crypto news
- Japan’s three largest banks, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group and Mizuho Financial Group, have received approval from the regulator to trial a client-facing, yen-pegged stablecoin in a proof-of-concept phase. The rollout of full deployment is planned for March 2026, with potential expansion into USD-pegged tokens.
- Fireblocks, Polygon Labs, Solana Foundation, Stellar Development Foundation, TON Foundation, Mysten Labs and the Monad Foundation have formed the Blockchain Payments Consortium to standardise cross-network stable-coin payments. The group represents over US$10 trillion in annual transaction volume and aims to make stablecoin payments as seamless and compliant as traditional systems.
- The Bank of England says its forthcoming stablecoin regulatory framework will be rolled out “just as quickly as the U.S.”, seeking to keep pace in the global crypto landscape. The regime, expected by early 2026, will focus initially on “systemic” stablecoins, with investor-holding caps of about £20,000 for individuals and £10 million for businesses.
- Canada’s 2025 federal budget includes draft legislation to create a new regulatory framework for fiat-backed stablecoins. Under the plan, issuers would be required to maintain full reserves, provide redemption policies, and adhere to risk-management and data-protection standards, supervised by the Bank of Canada. In addition, amendments to the Retail Payment Activities Act would bring stable-coin-based payment providers under federal oversight.
- France’s National Assembly has passed a proposal classifying large cryptocurrency holdings as “unproductive wealth,” subjecting asset holdings over €2 million to a 1% annual tax. Industry experts warn it unfairly targets founders and ecosystem builders without distinction and predict the law could drive capital flight and hinder innovation in France’s digital economy.
