“When Jensen Huang Left, 173 Trillion Won Melted Away”... Bitcoin’s ‘Disaster’ as It Crashes Below $70,000

[Financial News]  The shocking, ignominious exit of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang has dragged down not only U.S. artificial intelligence (AI) stocks but also global crypto markets. With flagship cryptocurrency Bitcoin falling below $70,000, a “disaster” unfolded as $130 billion (about 173 trillion won) was wiped off the crypto market’s total value in a single day.
As of 4 p.m. on the 13th, CoinMarketCap put the global crypto market’s total value at $2.32 trillion (about 3,099 trillion won), down sharply by 5.41% from 24 hours earlier.
The sell-off has been across the board. Bitcoin plunged 5.98% from the previous day to $69,119, slipping helplessly below the psychologically important $70,000 support level. Ethereum also fell 5.00% to $1,942.55, leaving both cryptocurrencies at their lowest levels since August. Altcoins were no exception: BNB and Solana fell 5.69% and 3.02%, respectively.
The immediate trigger for this market rout was macroeconomic headwinds compounded by “Nvidia-driven risk.” After news of CEO Jensen Huang’s resignation sent Nvidia shares tumbling 4.3% in U.S. trading on the 12th, local time, investor sentiment toward risk assets broadly froze.
Rich Rosenblum, co-founder of crypto market maker GSR, said, “The extreme volatility in AI-related stocks, the stronger dollar, and the major wildcard of a change in Nvidia’s leadership put heavy pressure on risk assets.” Bloomberg News also reported that “expectations of further interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed), as well as concerns about tighter regulations next year following the Democrats’ takeover of Congress, directly hit the crypto market.”
Above all, the massive forced liquidation of “long positions (bets on rising prices)” made the losses spiral out of control. Sean McNulty, a derivatives trader at market-making firm AQC Tech, explained, “Immediately after Bitcoin fell below $70,000, at least $1 billion (about 1.4 trillion won) worth of leveraged long positions betting on price rises were forcibly liquidated.” A flood of sell orders from positions that could no longer hold out triggered a vicious cycle, driving prices even lower.
Bitcoin’s wild price swings also dealt a direct blow to the earnings of publicly listed companies holding large amounts of the cryptocurrency. Metaplanet, a Japanese Bitcoin-accumulating company known as “Asia’s MicroStrategy,” disclosed a net loss of 27.157 billion yen (about $172.54 million) from January through September this year, as unrealized losses on its Bitcoin holdings were reflected in its financial statements.
Metaplanet tried to defend itself by selling 10,000 bitcoins during the third quarter and raising 124.7 billion yen in cash, then buying back 11,000 bitcoins, but it could not avoid losses. As of the end of September, Metaplanet held 44,000 bitcoins.


[email protected] Jeon Sang-il Reporter