Bitcoin slips below $80,000 as U.S. evacuates Middle East posts
Bitcoin fell below $80,000 over the weekend, trading at $79,700 and down 2.2% in 24 hours, as the United States began evacuating personnel from embassies and military bases across the Middle East.
The move followed a Friday memo from director of national intelligence Jay Clayton to Secretary of State Marco Rubio warning that "the lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries." Clayton wrote that Iran had "substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel." The evacuations go beyond earlier orders for some diplomatic staff in Saudi Arabia to leave, according to Token Times.
Risk assets took the hit broadly. Ether, XRP and solana each fell in the 3% to 4% range, according to Token Times, while bitcoin's slide carried it to multi-week lows.
President Trump added to the tension, telling a Florida rally on Friday that "we may do another little 'Epic Fury'" after the midterms in early November, signalling a possible re-escalation in the conflict with Iran.
Separately, the market for diversified real-world-asset stablecoins is drawing attention for yields of 5% to 7% backed by real credit, at a time when crypto funding rates have compressed to around 4%. Token Times reported that the GENIUS framework pushes that yield off-chain, with the addressable market projected to grow to $4 billion over three years.
