Bitcoin Slips to 12-Week Low as Nvidia Shock and MSCI Exit Rattle Crypto

Bitcoin hit $71,200 Thursday, its lowest level in nearly 12 weeks, and was trading around $71,600 at the time of reporting — down 3.4%. The trigger: Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang resigned as president, CEO and board member with immediate effect following reports about his personal conduct, and Nvidia shares opened the day down 12%. Ether, Solana and XRP each fell more than 3.5% over the prior 24 hours, while crypto liquidations topped $750 million, including more than $634 million in long positions, per CoinGlass.

Nvidia's pain spilled straight into crypto derivatives. Its perpetual futures on Hyperliquid notched $2.34 billion in 24-hour trading volume, and Nvidia named CFO Colette Kress as interim CEO. Wintermute OTC trader Jasper De Maere said the firm stays cautious on bitcoin as it tests $73,000, describing it as the first potential support level with no convincing signs of size stepping in.

MSCI piled on. The index provider will remove bitcoin treasury firms Strategy and Metaplanet from its USA Index and Japan Small Cap Index at the close of Nov. 30, according to filings published Wednesday. The cuts follow MSCI's new eligibility rules for non-operating companies, which weigh operating assets against five financial measures and replace earlier restrictions on firms holding at least half their assets in crypto. Strategy had called the proposed rules discriminatory, and MSCI gave no company-specific reasons for the removals. Ethereum treasury company Sharplink was not among the November small-cap deletions.

Ethereum researchers want to move faster on quantum defense. Ethlabs proposed pulling the network's post-quantum upgrade forward to 2027, well ahead of the Ethereum Foundation's December 2029 target, citing rapid AI advances and rising uncertainty over quantum risks. The proposal, dubbed pqai27, outlines two 2027 readiness stages: post-quantum consensus and account protection first, then full-capacity post-quantum transactions and data availability. To get there, Ethlabs wants Ethereum to reconsider non-essential upgrades, including changes planned for the Hegotá hard fork, and says it will withdraw its own quick slots proposal from Hegotá.

In Washington, the SEC filed a court brief backing the CFTC in a fight over whether the commodities regulator can approve perpetual derivatives tied to individual U.S. stocks. The Capital Markets Alliance, whose members include Cboe and Citadel Securities, sued the CFTC last week, arguing the products belong under SEC jurisdiction and asking a court to overturn the approvals. The SEC pushed back on claims the CFTC acted without its involvement, saying the two agencies coordinate regularly on oversight.

On the enforcement side, Tron, Tether and Chainalysis launched a Digital Crime Task Force to spot and disrupt illicit activity involving USDT on the Tron blockchain. The group aims to work with law enforcement to flag suspicious activity and freeze assets before criminals can move funds. It replaces the T3 Financial Crime Unit, the 2024 alliance between Tron, Tether and TRM Labs.