Bitcoin, Ethereum, XRP Whipsaw On Nvidia Scandal, Iran Tensions: Crypto Sell-Off Sparks $1B Liquidation Wave

More than $1.14 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in the last 24 hours, with long positions accounting for about 90% of the total.

• Bitcoin’s decline came amid broader uncertainty following reports involving Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and stalled U.S.-Iran negotiations.
• Ethereum, Solana, and Ripple’s XRP underperformed Bitcoin in the last 24 hours. 
• Ethereum recorded nearly $500 million in liquidations, compared with $305 million in Bitcoin positions.

Bitcoin (BTC) was struggling to hold $74,000 on Monday morning after it dropped to lows last seen in August, and over $1 billion in cryptocurrency bets were wiped from the market.

Bitcoin’s price was trading around $74,100 at the time of writing, after falling to $73,650 earlier in the morning, marking its lowest price in two months. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around the apex cryptocurrency continued to trend in ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

Ethereum (ETH), Ripple’s XRP (XRP), and Solana (SOL) took a bigger hit than Bitcoin in the last 24 hours. While BTC’s price dropped around 2%, Solana’s price tumbled nearly 3%, Ethereum’s price slipped 5.6%, and XRP’s price was down 6.3% – the hardest hit among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market capitalization. All of them were trading at lows last seen in August.

Ethereum Leads $1.1B Crypto Liquidation Wave

The crypto sell-off resulted in more than $1.14 billion in leveraged positions getting liquidated over the past 24 hours, with long positions accounting for roughly 90% of the total, according to CoinGlass data. 

Ethereum took the largest hit, with nearly $500 million in ETH positions liquidated, compared with $305.3 million in Bitcoin positions. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Ethereum dropped to ‘extremely bearish’ from ‘bearish’ territory over the past day.

Crypto analyst Ted Pillows noted that Bitcoin had closed its fifth consecutive week in the red and fallen below its 50-week moving average, warning that a failure to reclaim the level could leave it vulnerable to a drop toward $70,000.

Nvidia Investigation Adds To Market Uncertainty

The volatility in the crypto market came after Nvidia (NVDA) CEO Jensen Huang acknowledged an affair with Alice Huang, a business executive whom U.S. officials reportedly believe was passing information to China. 

Nvidia’s board said it has opened an independent investigation after reports that Huang had a relationship with Alice Huang, a business executive whom U.S. intelligence agencies reportedly believe was passing information to Beijing.

Jensen Huang acknowledged the affair in a message to employees, saying he had been unfaithful to his wife and apologizing for the harm caused.

Nvidia said it had no reason to believe that national security or company secrets had been compromised. The board is overseeing the review with outside independent counsel.

Iran Talks Add To Geopolitical Concerns

Another factor weighing on markets was Secretary of State Marco Rubio stating that negotiations with Iran had stalled.

Rubio told reporters that Iranian demands were “outrageous” and that negotiations had failed to make progress, keeping tensions in the Middle East in focus.

Crypto markets reacted quickly over the weekend, while traditional markets were closed. Investors will get their next read on the fallout once the U.S. stock market opens on Monday. MN Fund founder Michael van de Poppe said in a post on X that a further decline in equities could signal a sharper correction across major indexes, while noting that Bitcoin had held up relatively well so far.

If stocks rebound, he expects crypto to recover more strongly. For Bitcoin, he pointed to the $75,000 level as an important near-term threshold, saying a daily close above it could support a bounce. Otherwise, he warned, the market could face another deep decline this week.

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