BitMine Chairman Tom Lee named five possible reasons for the recent crypto selloff, from Nvidia losses to Anthropic's IPO. He maintains that Ethereum and the wider industry remain positioned for a longer-term supercycle.
Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, pointed to five possible causes of the crypto selloff in a post on X: falling AI stocks, preparations for Anthropic's IPO, customer withdrawals after the Binance hack, cybersecurity concerns and US scrutiny of chip exports. He argued that selling continued despite growing interest in blockchain technology among financial institutions.
Ethereum traded near $1,800 on November 15, down approximately 6% over 24 hours. Bitcoin traded around $64,000 as losses continued across major cryptocurrencies.
Tom Lee links crypto selling to Nvidia and Anthropic IPO
Lee believes weakness in AI and semiconductor stocks, particularly Nvidia, may have triggered margin calls among retail investors in Asia. He also suggested that investors preparing for Anthropic's stock market debut may have sold existing holdings, including crypto, to raise cash.
However, Anthropic's November 12 SEC filing does not establish how much cryptocurrency investors may have sold to finance subscriptions. Lee presented the idea as a possible explanation, not a measured amount of outflows.
Binance hack recovery may add selling pressure
Lee also identified the return of customer access to funds after Binance's October 29 security breach, which resulted in approximately $6.3 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. He suggested that customers with restored balances might be converting their holdings into cash or stablecoins.
By November 3, Binance said it had replenished approximately 98% of the affected assets using company resources. Still, the public recovery figures do not show how much reimbursed customers subsequently sold.
Ether outflows and BitMine's holdings
US spot Ethereum ETFs recorded approximately $398.9 million in net withdrawals between November 9 and November 13, according to Farside Investors. Meanwhile, Onchain Lens reported that an Ethereum Foundation-linked wallet sold 7,500 ETH for approximately 14.52 million USDS over four days.
Despite the selling, BitMine's latest disclosure listed 6,070,092 ETH, approximately 4.97% of Ethereum's circulating supply. Of that amount, 5,227,037 ETH was staked.
Lee nevertheless maintained his longer-term view, writing that crypto could experience a supercycle larger than previous ones and that the current headwinds would pass.
Source: crypto.news
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