🚨 BTC dumps to $85K on BOJ shock

PLUS: Volumes plunge 27%, BOJ yields spike, ETH undervalued $9K, ZEC crashes 21% and Hayes roasts Tether.

Author

Cryptopolitan News
December 01, 2025 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Crypto markets had their weakest month for trading since June in November. Here’s what happened:

Spot volumes dropped across major exchanges

Spot volumes on centralized exchanges dropped to $1.59 trillion in the month, down 26.7% from October, according to CryptoQuant. Binance had the highest lead with $599.34B, and was followed by that of $810.44B.

Bybit ($105.8B), Gate. io ($96.75B) and Coinbase ($93.41B) traded around 10% lower, in what was a sign of more widespread trader fatigue after weeks of liquidations, macro shocks, and thinner risk appetite.

On-chain activity wasn’t spared either.

DEX volume declined $397.78B in total (lowest since June), while Uniswap ($79.98B) and PancakeSwap ($70.57B), finished lower off of their October highs. The DEX-to-CEX ratio fell to 15.73%, suggesting a small return to centralized platforms as volatility increased.

Macro Shock: Japan rattles rest of market

Global markets were shaken by an unexpected tremor on Monday when the Bank of Japan suggested it is turning hawkish, jolting a global bond selloff.

  • Japan’s 10-year yield surged to the highest close since 2008

  • US 10-year yields rose to 4.04% (+3bps) in sympathy

  • Dealers are now pricing in an 80% chance of a BOJ rate rise Dec 19 (vs <25% just one week ago)

But, why does this matter for crypto?

That’s because Japanese capital is a large buyer of U.S. Treasuries.

If suddenly the BOJ is hiking rates, some of that dollar liquidity may flow back to Japan, have a tighter effect on the rest of global liquidity, at a moment that crypto is already having lower volumes.

Wall street opens flat after a big November

U.S. futures opened muted Sunday night:

  • Dow: –18 points

  • S&P 500: flat

  • Nasdaq-100: flat

This follows a powerful November:

  • S&P 500: +3.7%

  • Nasdaq: +4.9%

  • Dow: +3.2%

Historically, December averages a 1% gain, making it the third-best month for equities since 1950, but markets now face a rare tug-of-war between U.S. Fed dovishness and Japan’s tightening shock.

Crypto sells off in Asia

When Asia opened Monday, everything fell apart at once:

  • Bitcoin dived down to $84,800 (-6.7%)

  • Ethereum fell 7% to ~$2,800

  • Solana dropped 7.8%

The dip follows BTC’s brutal 16.7% selloff in November, which was kicked off with the October leverage wipeout where $19B worth of positions were liquidated.

🤔 Quick Explainer: Why everything dumped at once

Crypto didn’t crash in isolation.
It followed the same global risk-off wave that hit equities, bonds, and futures:

  • BOJ’s hawkish turn → higher global yields

  • Higher yields → lower liquidity

  • Lower liquidity → crypto gets hit first

  • Low November volumes → deeper price swings

This is macro, not a crypto-specific breakdown.

🗳️ Poll: Where does Bitcoin go next?

What’s your view after the Asia-led selloff?

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📊 Market Watch

1️⃣ Ethereum’s valuation gap widens

CryptoQuant CEO Ki Young Ju says ETH is currently being undervalued in 10 out of the 12 major valuation modelers, with the composite fair value hitting at around $4,535. Metcalfe’s Law puts ETH over $9,500 and staking-based models arrive at something in the vicinity of $9,000.

2️⃣ New York to launch $12,000 USDC income pilot

160 residents in the South Bronx and East Harlem are now getting USDC ($12,000 worth) over five months, $800 every month plus an $8,000 lump sum.

The nonprofit behind the program, which has received backing from Coinbase, is testing whether lines of crypto provide a more efficient way for cash aid to be delivered and if beneficiaries regard digital dollars differently than bank transfers. Early feedback is that there has been strong adoption because of banking restrictions in the region.

3️⃣ The October 11 crash whale makes big a move

The whale who went short before the October 11 wipeout made a reappearance, this time depositing 55,240 ETH into Aave and borrowing $70 million worth of USDT before promptly transferring these to Binance.

The trader who is famously linked to time market pivots now has close to $176 million in assets. Another purse pulled 42,000 ETH a few minutes later leading to rumours of some attempting coordinated buying.

👀 Charts our analyst is watching

After weeks of defying gravity, Zcash fell a staggering 21% in hours, breaking under $440 and reaching as low as $340 during the Asia–Europe selloff. A total of more than $6M worth of longs were eliminated, also challenging the coin’s success as an outlier in this market.

ZEC’s surge above $700 was never supported by healthy spot demand. This week was a wake up call: when BTC breaks, ZEC doesn't swim.

What triggered the collapse?

  • Vitalik Buterin’s very public call for Zcash community members to say no to token-based governance did not help an already precarious arrangement.

  • Open interest collapsed under the $500M mark as shorts piled in, more than 45% of all positions are short right now.

  • Big Hyperliquid whales flipped too: Trading big on the short side and some paying deep negative funding to stay in their bet.

Is there a bounce setup?

Longs were nearly fully liquidated to $360. Should BTC find its footing, ZEC could attempt a reflexive bounce in the medium to low $400s, though the sentiment has flipped.

Polymarket’s prediction markets for ZEC reaching $1,000 by end-of-year have dropped from 42% → 8%.

 đŸ¤ Top Tweets

🎭 Culture Watch

Arthur Hayes calls out Tether, Crypto Twitter reacts.


In a viral post, the BitMEX co-founder claimed Tether is effectively running a giant interest-rate macro trade, and the entire USDT ecosystem could face solvency questions if the bet goes wrong.

📊 Community Poll: Do you think Tether’s BTC + gold strategy is risky or smart?

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Monday headline picks :)

Dwight Schrute Monday GIF by The Office

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