Bitcoin holds near $75,000 as $6.3bn Binance hack and tech rout hit altcoins harder
Bitcoin is trading near $75,000, down only about 1% in the past 24 hours, even after a hack that drained roughly $6.3 billion from Binance, the world's largest centralised crypto exchange, and a tech stock rout that pushed the Nasdaq down more than 5% last week.
"It could have gotten hit a lot harder," said John LaForge, chief alternatives strategist at Ned Davis Research. "The fact that it's still… holding the 75 to 80 [range], I consider it a mild positive." The weekend also brought revelations about Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang's affair and the company's investigation into whether he was targeted by Chinese intelligence, while a Democratic takeover of Congress dealt losses to crypto-backed candidates.
Altcoins have taken the brunt. Ether, the native token of Ethereum, has fallen nearly 5% over the past day, and XRP, the token associated with Ripple, is down nearly 12% over the past week. LaForge called the gap a familiar pattern: "Eventually when prices come down across the board, Bitcoin goes down less, and [altcoins] go down more." He expects Bitcoin to take a larger share of the crypto market in any recovery while smaller tokens lag.
Bitcoin has weathered sharper selloffs. In October 2025, President Donald Trump's threat of steep new tariffs on Chinese imports triggered more than $19 billion in crypto liquidations within a day, and in June Bitcoin fell below $60,000 to its lowest level of 2026 amid high interest rates and heavy outflows from Bitcoin exchange-traded funds. Ish Asad, crypto research analyst at asset manager Bitwise, said much of the bad news was already priced in. "It's not to say that it's not going to chop sideways for a little bit longer, but I think the bottom is clearly in," he said, referring to the June low. Asad argued an earlier exodus from crypto into AI investments left fewer investors ready to sell Bitcoin.
Investors now await Tuesday's inflation report, which economists expect to show a further rise in consumer prices, and traders anticipate a Federal Reserve rate hike in December, another potential headwind for crypto markets.
What it means for Pakistan: For Pakistani holders, the divergence is the practical story: Bitcoin's smaller fall offers some shelter, but Ether and XRP losses of 5% and nearly 12% hit portfolios weighted towards altcoins harder, and a December Fed hike would tighten the global liquidity that has driven crypto prices. The $6.3 billion Binance hack is a reminder of custody risk for users who keep assets on offshore exchanges rather than in self-custody, a concern PVARA's licensing regime for virtual asset service providers is meant to address.
