Morning Minute is a daily newsletter written by Tyler Warner. The analysis and opinions expressed are his own and do not necessarily reflect those of Decrypt.

Bitcoin erases election rally as AI stocks crater

On Wednesday, markets treated the prospect of a Democratic Congress as positive news. U.S. stocks posted their best session in three months, Bitcoin climbed back above $80,800, and Trump wrote on Truth Social that the market had “just hit another Record High,” with 401(k)s “through the roof.”

By Thursday, markets reversed course. The S&P 500 fell 4.36%, its worst session since the Liberation Day tariffs in April 2025. The Nasdaq dropped 5.52% and closed in correction territory, more than 10% below its record from the previous month. The Dow declined 1,833 points.

The sharpest losses were concentrated in semiconductor and artificial intelligence stocks. The iShares Semiconductor ETF fell more than 12%, its worst day since March 2020. Micron dropped 17.5%, AMD fell 17.3%, Marvell declined 16.4%, and Nvidia lost 9.3%. The so-called Magnificent Seven companies shed roughly $1 trillion in market value.

The CBOE Volatility Index, or VIX, reached 28.09 intraday, its highest level since March. By the close, the U.S. stock market had lost $3 trillion in value—more than the entire cryptocurrency market capitalization.

The election result that had lifted markets a day earlier became the source of concern on Thursday. Several states where Democrats won have active local opposition to data-center construction, and traders priced in slower permitting and tighter oversight of the AI buildout. Ipek Ozkardeskaya of Swissquote said, “We suspect there is going to be some scrutiny on this aggressive AI buildout.”

Rate expectations also shifted, with the odds of a December hike falling to 70.1% from 82.7%.

Crypto markets fell alongside equities. Bitcoin declined 5.4% to $75,871, below its pre-election level. Ethereum dropped 7.6% to $2,239, a steeper decline than the Nasdaq. XRP fell 9.8%, while Hyperliquid declined 4.9%. The CMC20 index dropped 6.29%.

More than $1.1 billion in cryptocurrency long positions were liquidated during the selloff, according to CoinGlass, before a modest overnight relief rally. Long-position liquidations occur when leveraged bets on rising prices are forcibly closed, adding a distinct measure of leverage unwinding to the market’s spot-price declines.

Zcash and Monero outperformed the broader market. Zcash fell 0.8% and Monero declined 2.2%, and both remained higher for the week. Over the past year, Zcash has gained 146% and Monero 74%, while BTC has fallen 26% and ETH has dropped 34%.

Friday’s October jobs report is the next major market event. The week illustrated how investors interpreted the same political outcome in opposite ways over two sessions.

Macro, crypto and markets

Major cryptocurrencies were down 4% to 6% in the latest market snapshot. BTC was down 5% at $75,900, ETH was down 8% at $2,240, SOL was down 7% at $90.10, HYPE was down 5% at $78.40, and ZEC was down 1% at $1,310. WLFI, PEPE and ARB led large-altcoin gainers, rising 3%, 3% and 4%, respectively.

Oil rose 2% to $90, while gold fell 1% to $4,080. Stock futures rebounded after the previous day’s selloff, with Dow futures down 0.9% and Nasdaq futures up 1.6%.

Representative Robert Garcia, who was expected to chair the House Oversight Committee under the new Democratic majority, said the committee would investigate the Trump family’s business dealings, including its crypto ventures. World Liberty Financial was likely to be among the first targets, with inquiries possibly beginning in February.

Trump-backed American Bitcoin reported a $126 million third-quarter profit, compared with a $57.2 million loss in the second quarter. The company’s result was driven by a $197 million gain on its bitcoin holdings as prices rose. Decrypt reported on the earnings.

Zcash’s NU7 upgrade will permanently freeze about 12,224 ZEC, worth roughly $15.6 million, by invalidating the only transaction format that can move coins out of Sprout, the chain’s original privacy pool launched in 2016. The upgrade will also reduce the target block time from 75 seconds to 25 seconds. Decrypt covered the upgrade.

Solana Labs launched Leap, a mobile application for trading tokenized stocks, exchange-traded funds, metals, currencies and cryptocurrencies around the clock. The app was built by the Dialect team, which Solana Labs acquired this year. Decrypt reported on the launch.

China’s central bank said it halted Solana’s planned Accelerate China 2026 events in Shanghai and other cities. It will investigate the domestic entities that placed advertising for the project in the Lujiazui financial district.

Corporate treasuries and ETFs

Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $430 million in net outflows on Thursday, while Ether ETFs saw $100 million in outflows.

Meme coin tracker

Meme-coin leaders were mostly lower: DOGE fell 6%, SHIB dropped 4%, PEPE rose 3%, PENGU declined 7%, TRUMP fell 2%, SPX dropped 5%, and BONK fell 4%.

Robinhood-chain leaders also declined. Pons fell 12% to a $128 million market capitalization, Cashcat dropped 8% to $94 million, and AI declined 23% to $40 million. HOOKR and Priors led the top movers, gaining 20% and 8%, respectively.

Solana’s top movers included BIRB, up 32%, COGE, up 78x, and Diamond, up 900%. Cards fell 25%, giving back recent gains.

Token, airdrop and protocol tracker

Hyperliquid led on-chain protocols in revenue with $2.72 million, followed by Pump.fun at $1.35 million and Papertrade at $822,000, according to DefiLlama.

Lighter recorded its second-highest revenue day since early February, generating $314,000. Its revenue data is tracked by DefiLlama.

Pump.fun opened business-development positions covering perpetual futures, prediction markets and a trading terminal, expanding beyond memecoins. The platform also introduced a new Diamond mode for callouts, rewarding calls involving higher market-cap assets and longer-term holdings.

NFT market

NFT leaders were mixed. CryptoPunks were unchanged at 30.4 ETH, Bored Ape Yacht Club fell 1% to 5.6 ETH, and Pudgy Penguins were unchanged at 2.25 ETH. Normies rose 4% to lead the top movers.

Source: Decrypt.