Bitcoin Crashes Below $70K, Nvidia CEO Resigns, Inflation Fears Return: Weekly Crypto Recap

Bitcoin dumped to multi-month lows, with the leading cryptocurrency falling below $70,000 to $67,500, its lowest point in almost three months. The drop represented a loss of over $13,000 in less than 10 days, leaving Bitcoin down by more than 10% on a weekly scale.

The decline accelerated amid broader market turbulence, particularly following the dramatic resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, which sent shockwaves across financial markets. The cryptocurrency felt these consequences harder than most assets, experiencing significant volatility throughout the week.

Market Decline Continues

The week began with Bitcoin already in a weakened state, having fallen from a post-election rally high of $81,000 to an 11-week low just under $75,000. The weekend saw the cryptocurrency trading sideways between $75,500 and $76,000 before Monday morning brought another major leg down to $73,500.

Tuesday's CPI data, which exceeded expectations by being slightly higher on a month-over-month basis, triggered further declines, pushing Bitcoin below $73,000. Despite attempted rebounds that failed short of $74,800, the cryptocurrency continued its downward trajectory.

Most major altcoins experienced even steeper losses than Bitcoin, with ZEC plunging 31%, ETH dropping 14%, XRP falling 15%, SOL declining 13%, ENA losing 20%, and UNI decreasing by 17.5%. Only ICP bucked the trend, gaining 4.8% weekly, while WLFI also showed slight gains.

Institutional Activity

Despite the market downturn, some institutional players continued to accumulate cryptocurrencies. Tom Lee's Bitmine added over 9,500 ETH to its holdings, bringing its total stash above 6,070,000 tokens. Meanwhile, Michael Saylor's Strategy purchased 1,037 BTC, reaching a new all-time high of over 850,360 Bitcoin units.

Regulatory Developments

Coinbase received full approval for its national trust bank charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), joining other crypto giants like Circle and Ripple in obtaining this regulatory approval. The green light allows Coinbase to operate as a federal trust bank with expanded services.

The approval comes amid concerns about the Democratic sweep's impact on crypto regulation, though analyst Matt Hougan suggests that younger policymakers taking charge could actually be beneficial for the industry. The cryptocurrency market currently shows a market cap of $2.435 trillion with 24-hour volume at $100 billion and Bitcoin dominance at 56.7%.