BTC news: Prices slip below $70K, triggering $1.2 billion in liquidations

Bitcoin slid 6% to $69,244.30 by 02:11 ET on Friday, falling below $70,000 for the first time since mid-August and marking a near three-month low, according to Yahoo Finance. The drop extended a six-week losing streak that has left the asset down nearly 9% for the week. CoinDesk reported the move triggered $1.2 billion in liquidations across crypto markets.

The decline coincided with growing bets on further Federal Reserve interest rate hikes. Markets priced in 25 to 50 basis points of tightening in December after October consumer inflation data came in hotter than expected, CME Fedwatch data showed. Higher rates tend to pressure speculative assets like crypto by limiting liquidity and drawing capital toward safer bets such as government debt, Yahoo Finance noted.

Regulatory uncertainty added to the selloff after Democrats won majorities in both chambers of Congress in the U.S. midterm elections. Several prominent Democrats have called for tighter anti-money laundering and risk management rules for the industry, raising the prospect of more stringent legislation, according to Yahoo Finance. Reuters attributed the broader cryptocurrency slide to the midterm outcome, reporting that digital assets fell to two-month lows after the vote.

Strategy, the world's largest corporate Bitcoin holder, emerged as a specific risk factor after MSCI said it would exclude the company and similar firms from its benchmark indexes effective November 30. While the exclusion does not create immediate selling pressure, it limits Strategy's ability to raise new capital—its main funding source for Bitcoin purchases—and could eventually push the firm to sell holdings to meet debt obligations, Yahoo Finance reported.

Ether fell 5.2% to $1,944.56, down 13.2% for the week. Cardano and Solana dropped 0.9% and 3.2% respectively on Friday, while BNB slid 5.7%, continuing losses after a late-October hack drained roughly $6 billion from Binance, according to Yahoo Finance.