Bitcoin swung violently over the weekend, sliding to roughly $73,761 late Sunday, its weakest level since August, before clawing back above $75,000, as the only open market absorbed two jarring headlines at once: an espionage investigation touching Nvidia's chief executive and the collapse of U.S.-Iran nuclear negotiations.
Ether, the second-largest token by market value, broke below $2,100 before recovering to about $2,144. The whipsaw wiped out leveraged traders on both sides, with more than $1 billion in crypto futures positions liquidated in 24 hours, according to data from CoinGlass. Bets on rising prices accounted for $913 million of the damage, punishing the bulls who had positioned for a post-election rally.
The shakeout was lopsided. Ether liquidations totaled $448 million, nearly double bitcoin's $272 million, and the single largest forced order was an ETH position worth $48 million.
Note: Price data from CoinDesk; liquidation figures from CoinGlass covering a 24-hour window, with most forced selling concentrated in the final six hours.
At the center of the storm is Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia (NVDA), the AI bellwether and the world's largest company by market capitalization. Nvidia's board has launched an independent investigation after reports that Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a business executive whom U.S. intelligence agencies suspect of passing information to Beijing. The two are not related.
The executive has acknowledged the affair in a message to employees, saying he had been unfaithful to his wife and apologizing for the harm caused. Nvidia said it has no reason to believe national security or company secrets were compromised, but that its inquiry, overseen by outside independent counsel, will review all available information.
The stakes reach well beyond a personal scandal. Nvidia sits at the intersection of the AI investment boom and the U.S.-China technology rivalry. Washington restricts exports of the company's most advanced AI chips to China, and Megaspeed, the Singapore-based data center firm linked to Alice Huang, has been accused of helping restricted Chinese firms obtain Nvidia hardware. Republican lawmakers have requested a briefing from Huang, and he has been summoned to appear before Congress on Nov. 18, according to reports.
"This will add risk to the stock as he is so important to the Nvidia story and strategy globally," said Dan Ives, an analyst at investment bank Yorkville Ives. He added that the controversy will "also increase major scrutiny regarding selling chips to China, which remains a key battleground issue in DC."
Crypto traders delivered an early verdict. NVDAX, a tokenized version of Nvidia shares traded on xStock, fell 3.55% to $180.42 over 24 hours. Because the underlying stock closed at $186.64 on Nasdaq on Friday, the discount implies digital-asset investors expect a steeper decline when U.S. equities reopen Monday.
The second shock came from the State Department. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Iranian demands were "outrageous" and that negotiations had failed to advance, leaving Middle East tensions elevated. For crypto, that matters because flare-ups in the region typically lift oil prices and sour risk appetite. Since the Iran war began in March, bitcoin has more often than not fallen during crude rallies, despite its digital-gold branding.
The weekend turmoil extends a rough stretch for risk assets. The Nasdaq fell nearly 5% last week, extending a four-week losing streak, as investors question whether the hundreds of billions of dollars flowing into AI infrastructure will generate adequate returns. Nvidia shares plunged 9.3% in Thursday's rout, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index cratered 12% in a single session.
Political risk is compounding the pressure. Democrats swept both chambers of Congress in Tuesday's midterm elections, a rebuke to President Donald Trump, and investors fear the new Congress will move to curb the data center buildout and tighten scrutiny of the tech industry.
Asian markets offered a partial counterweight Monday. Tokyo's Nikkei 225 climbed 3.4% to 59,411.34, Seoul's Kospi rose 1.7% to 5,144.00 and Taiwan's Taiex jumped 5%, led by chipmakers recovering from Friday's drubbing. Hong Kong's Hang Seng added 0.5% and Shanghai's Composite gained 0.7%.
"Investors will be watching carefully this week to get a sense as to whether these gains are just short-covering, bargain hunting or the beginning of something more sustainable in nature," said Sally Auld of National Australia Bank. "Fears around AI regulation, the outlook for (capital expenditure) and free cash flow have been the driver of risk reduction in recent weeks and these issues are not likely to be resolved with any conviction in the near term."
On the charts, bitcoin is now pinned between support at its 200-day moving average near $73,150 and resistance at its 100-day average around $77,430. The rebound to $75,000 had already stalled by early Monday, and whether it holds hinges largely on how traditional markets digest the Nvidia probe and the Iran impasse when they open.
For crypto investors, the episode reinforces an uncomfortable reality: bitcoin increasingly trades as a high-beta proxy for speculative technology bets. When confidence in the AI trade wobbles, leveraged crypto positions are among the first casualties, and forced selling can turn an ordinary pullback into a cascade. With U.S. inflation data due this week and the Federal Reserve's December meeting approaching, markets are pricing an 80% chance of a rate hike, another potential headwind for risk assets.
