Crypto markets absorbed an $803 million liquidation shock early this week after a selloff in Asian semiconductor stocks spilled into leveraged digital-asset venues. Perpetual futures tied to SanDisk recorded roughly $19 million in forced closures, edging out XRP at $18.8 million, while contracts on SK Hynix, Micron and the triple-leveraged semiconductor ETF SOXL also featured among the worst-hit instruments. Bitcoin liquidations reached about $181 million and Ethereum about $178 million, with the largest single order a $9.65 million Bitcoin long on Binance.
Seoul led the decline: the Kospi dropped more than 6%, while Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each fell around 8% amid concerns over AI-related valuations and competition from Chinese memory makers. Bitcoin briefly traded under $81,000 during Asian hours before recovering above $83,000. In the four hours after that recovery, about $74 million was liquidated, roughly 79% of it from short positions, indicating that leverage had rotated from bullish longs to bearish shorts.
Macro pressures compounded the move. Brent crude traded near $106, the dollar sat near an 18-month high and the US 10-year yield hovered around 5.19%. Spot Bitcoin ETFs lost $681.1 million last week, while Ether funds extended redemptions to nine consecutive sessions totaling $697.2 million since September 29; BlackRock’s ETHA accounted for $477 million of that total. With September CPI expected at 3.7% annually and Fed futures pricing an 85% chance of a December hike, analysts identified $81,300 as a key floor, $84,340 as the spot Bitcoin ETF average cost basis and $87,145 as major resistance.
Separately, Amsterdam-listed SWI Group raised €800 million, approximately $894 million, at a €6.1 billion valuation to convert former FTX-linked bitcoin miner Genesis Digital Assets into AI and high-performance computing infrastructure. The company plans to rebrand the unit SWI Digital and repurpose its US and Swedish sites while divesting remaining Kazakh mining locations. SWI’s founder said he has zero interest in continuing bitcoin mining, reflecting a broader pivot by former miners toward electricity-intensive AI workloads.
In hardware wallet news, OneKey terminated its reseller relationship with CryptoBilis and offered free replacements after Ledger confirmed an unauthorized hardware implant in devices sold through the Southeast Asian distributor. On-chain loss estimates ranged above $86 million, though Ledger said its own systems and direct sales channels remained unaffected. OneKey reported no related losses among its users but paused new reseller approvals and began reviewing its entire reseller network.
Palantir’s head of UK and European markets, Louis Mosley, added a broader warning that Europe risks repeating its internet-era failure to capture value from the AI boom, arguing that cautious enterprise adoption could leave the region behind the United States.
