The cryptocurrency market declined sharply this week, shedding over $100 billion in total capitalization as macroeconomic concerns and significant outflows from U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs drove prices lower. Bitcoin fell from near $78,000 to around $73,000, with altcoins like Ethereum following suit, as institutional demand faded and broader risk-off sentiment took hold across speculative assets.
The digital asset market traded lower over the past seven days, with Bitcoin leading the decline from near the $77,000-$78,000 range toward roughly $73,000. This reflected a combination of macro pressure, renewed ETF outflows, and weaker liquidity rather than a single industry-specific event.
The biggest theme was fading institutional demand, as U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs saw over a billion dollars leave in a single day. At the same time, large-holder activity picked up, with whale outflows reaching their highest level since February.
Geopolitical tensions between the U.S. and Iran reduced hopes for near-term rate cuts, weighing on speculative assets. Analysts also reported that central banks are adding to their gold reserves at an unprecedented rate, signaling broader risk-off market sentiment.
Altcoins followed Bitcoin lower, with Ethereum hovering near $2,000. Overall, the week showed that crypto remains highly sensitive to ETF flows and macro risk, leaving the market looking defensive.
In other news, U.S. prosecutors charged a software engineer from Google with allegedly using confidential information to profit $1.2 million from betting on Polymarket. The pre-IPO market for SpaceX on Hyperliquid, powered by Ventuals, experienced a sudden 45% flash crash, though affected traders will be compensated.
Hyperliquid itself expanded its suite of available outcome markets to include macro events like monthly CPI prints. Separately, BitGo and Galaxy Digital continue their courtroom clash over the collapse of a $1.2 billion acquisition agreement, while the Sui Network experienced another significant outage.
