Yesterday’s Biggest Headlines

Crypto Market Watch

1. Bitcoin slid below $80,000 on Saturday to its weakest level in more than a month as the U.S. evacuated personnel across Middle East posts on Iranian threat intelligence. CoinDesk reported the original cryptocurrency down about 2.2% over 24 hours near $79,700, with ether, XRP and Solana off roughly 3% to 4%, after a DNI memo warned Iranian plotting against U.S. personnel had reached advanced stages.

2. Crypto longs lost $404 million in four hours Saturday as bitcoin briefly slipped under $80,000, while U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs posted a second straight outflow session Friday. The Block reported $404.15 million of $436.44 million in liquidations were longs, bitcoin printed about $79,280 before recovering, Arthur Hayes wrote “I dumped it all,” and Friday ETF outflows totaled $137.94 million after Thursday’s $635.49 million withdrawal.

3. The Monetary Authority of Singapore said Bank Negara Malaysia and the Bank of Thailand joined BLOOM as policymaker members to advance cross-border settlement in digital money. MAS said the public-private initiative will work on acceptance, interoperability and programmable controls for tokenised deposits and regulated stablecoins, with expanded industry participation including Ripple, Visa, Mastercard, Maybank and the World Bank Group.

4. An Argentine federal judge dropped the criminal investigation into President Javier Milei, his sister Karina Milei and U.S. businessman Hayden Davis over the crashed LIBRA meme coin. Reuters reported Judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi found Milei’s February 2025 endorsement did not itself amount to a fraudulent scheme, clearing the trio after the token’s collapse and about $99 million in creator-linked wallet withdrawals.

Equity Market Moves

5. The Dow fell about 650 points Friday as oil prices climbed on threats of escalated Middle East fighting, though the blue-chip average still finished the week higher while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 logged weekly losses. Investopedia said the selling broadened beyond tech on the final day of a volatile week as crude kept rising on Iran-war escalation risks.

6. Asian equities closed mixed Friday as oil hovered near multi-month highs on Iran-war supply fears. Asahi Shimbun reported Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 lost 0.3% to 62,693.16, South Korea’s Kospi recovered to gain 0.3% at 5,550.30, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng climbed 0.7% and Shanghai’s Composite added 0.9%.

Commodities Watch

7. Spot gold fell near $3,995.81 an ounce Friday and headed for a weekly decline exceeding 3.5% as Hormuz and Iran escalation fears pushed crude higher and reinforced restrictive Fed expectations. Kitco reported gold down 0.70% and silver near $53.896, down 1.26%, extending a week of heavy precious-metals selling.

8. Brent crude settled 3.1% higher at $116.72 a barrel Friday, the highest close since April 29, while WTI rose 3.8% to $103.27 as traders priced renewed U.S.-Iran strike risk. CNBC said Brent gained 6.2% on the week, its third straight weekly advance, after Houthi strikes on Saudi targets and reports of possible post-midterm U.S. and Israeli operations.

Today’s Watchlist

• Whether bitcoin can reclaim $80,000 after the weekend ME-evacuation break and $404 million long flush

• Digestion of Friday’s dual ETF outflow days and Hayes’s flat book into the Fed decision window

• Follow-through from MAS BLOOM’s Malaysia-Thailand expansion into ASEAN digital-money settlement rails

• Whether Nikkei and Kospi stabilize as Brent digests the $116 settle and gold defends the sub-$4,000 zone

• Whether oil’s six-month high keeps December hike odds sticky into Wednesday’s FOMC

edgeX Market Lens

The Friday-to-weekend tape was a geopolitics-and-leverage session: Middle East evacuations knocked bitcoin under $80,000, oil printed a six-month Brent settle, and leveraged crypto longs absorbed a $404 million four-hour flush while Hayes stepped aside. Against that backdrop, MAS pulling Malaysia and Thailand deeper into BLOOM and Argentina clearing Milei in the LIBRA case were the structure-and-policy counters - ASEAN digital-money coordination on one side, a headline legal overhang lifted on the other.

The near-term cross-asset question is whether spot bitcoin can rebuild above $80,000 while Brent digests $116-plus settles, gold sits under $4,000 into the Fed, and Asia equities decide whether Friday’s mixed close was digestion or the start of another energy-driven down leg. If ETF outflows cool, BLOOM keeps regional bank and payment rails engaged, and crude stops forcing hike odds higher, crypto gets a cleaner handoff into the late-October policy window. If embassy risk and Hormuz headlines keep energy elevated, even busy digital-money and legal clearances will trade second to oil and leverage.

For active traders, access matters when BTC loses the $80,000 handle on evacuation headlines, longs get flushed in hours, ASEAN settlement frameworks expand, and crude holds six-month highs into the Fed. edgeX gives traders self-custodial access to crypto, Bitcoin, tokenized stock, and RWA perpetual markets around the clock.