After soaring to an all-time high of over $126,000, Bitcoin and the broader crypto market are reeling from literally unprecedented volatility. On Friday, the cryptocurrency market experienced its largest ever liquidation event, totaling approximately $19 billion.
This wipeout surpassed even the worst days of the FTX collapse in 2022, highlighting how much the market has grown since then and how fragile it still remains.
The decline started in classic crypto fashion. US President Donald Trump may have misunderstood China’s export controls, triggering the threat of widespread tariffs and causing risk assets to plummet, according to reports.
Amid market turmoil, crypto price feeds saw prices for some tokens briefly drop to zero, with traders reporting years of gains being wiped out within minutes.
Once the issue was resolved, Binance returned to the spotlight. The exchange subsequently announced a massive relief program aimed at supporting traders affected by the meltdown.
This week on Crypto Biz, we cover Binance’s rescue pledge, JPMorgan’s latest crypto efforts, the continued rise of Bitcoin (BTC) treasury companies, and Elon Musk’s comparison of Bitcoin to “sound money.”
Binance promises $400 million relief program to traders
Binance announced a $400 million relief initiative to help traders hurt by the October 10 market crash. The crash was reportedly caused by President Trump’s threat of new tariffs on China.
The event quickly snowballed into the crypto industry’s largest wave of liquidations, wiping out an estimated $19 billion in leveraged positions.
Under the new program, Binance will distribute $300 million in token vouchers to eligible users. To qualify, a trader must have experienced a liquidation of a futures or margin position during the peak period of disruption (from 00:00 UTC Friday to 23:59 UTC Saturday).
The exchange also plans to establish a $100 million low-interest loan fund for ecosystem participants affected by volatility. However, Binance emphasized that it is “not responsible for any user losses.”
The move follows widespread criticism from traders, some of whom reported technical issues that prevented them from closing positions and interface glitches that caused some token prices to temporarily drop to zero.
Binance was also linked to an exploit affecting Etena’s USDe synthetic stablecoin, which temporarily lost its peg during the market turmoil.
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JP Morgan plans to offer crypto trading
From skeptic to adopter, major US bank JPMorgan is preparing to offer crypto trading services to its customers, confirming Wall Street’s continued shift towards digital assets.
In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe, Scott Lucas, the bank’s global head of markets and digital assets, said that while crypto custody is not in JPMorgan’s immediate plans, the rollout of trading services is on the horizon.
“I think it’s Jamie. [Dimon] “It was clear at Investor Day that we would be involved in trading Bitcoin, but custody is not on the table at this point,” Lucas said, referring to JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who has been a vocal critic of Bitcoin for years.
Despite Dimon’s past skepticism, JPMorgan has steadily expanded its crypto-related activities in recent years.
The bank previously partnered with Coinbase to provide banking services to its customers and developed its own blockchain-based payment system, JPM Coin, for institutional customers.
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Companies are betting on Bitcoin like never before
The number of Bitcoin treasury companies has increased by 38% in just three months. This reflects the unprecedented interest in Bitcoin as a reserve asset, likely fueled by the success of the Michael Saylor Strategy.
Bitwise revealed in its Q3 Corporate Bitcoin Adoption Report that 172 companies currently have Bitcoin on their balance sheets, 48 of which emerged in Q3 alone.
The total Bitcoin holdings of these companies increased by 28% from the previous quarter to $117 billion.
“This participation will help legitimize cryptocurrencies as a mainstream asset class and lay the foundation for broader financial innovation, from Bitcoin-backed loans to new derivatives markets,” said Rachel Lucas, an analyst at BTC Markets.
Strategy remains the largest corporate Bitcoin holder with over 640,000 BTC, but the pace of accumulation has slowed in recent months. MARA Holdings ranks a distant second with 53,250 BTC on the books.
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Elon Musk praises Bitcoin’s energy-intensive model
Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk praised Bitcoin’s sound monetary principles, arguing that it offers stronger protection against currency deterioration than fiat currencies that can be printed at will.
In a post about X, Musk highlighted Bitcoin’s energy-intensive proof-of-work system, calling it “impossible to fake energy,” in contrast to government-issued currencies, which he suggested.
Musk’s comments came in response to a post by ZeroHedge that claimed Bitcoin’s recent rally reflected a broader “downside trade” as investors grew wary of the U.S. dollar.
Musk is not an expert on Bitcoin. His electric car company Tesla previously added the cryptocurrency to its balance sheet. Despite selling some of its holdings since then, Tesla still holds 11,509 BTC, making it the 11th largest corporate Bitcoin holder, according to industry data.
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