Crypto Today: November 13, 2026

Each fact links to the outlet that reported it: check the original before relying on it. Not investment advice.

Bitcoin fell below $69,000 to a 12-week low on Friday, with more than $1.6 billion in leveraged positions liquidated, and the weakness spread to firms that hold crypto on their balance sheets. Separately, US authorities moved to seize $1.2 billion of the crypto North Korea stole from Binance, and Trump named four new SEC and CFTC commissioners.

The simple explanation

Crypto prices dropped sharply on Friday. Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency, fell to about $68,000, its lowest in about three months. Traders had borrowed money to bet on prices, and when prices fell, those bets were forcibly closed, which pushed prices down further. Worries that US interest rates may rise again, and money leaving Bitcoin investment funds, added to the pressure.

Elsewhere, the US Justice Department got court permission to take control of $1.2 billion of crypto that North Korean hackers stole from the exchange Binance last month. Trump also nominated four people to the agencies that regulate crypto and financial markets, so who sits on those boards could shape the rules. Companies that bought lots of crypto using borrowed money are now under strain.

Markets snapshot

• BTC: $68,094.00 (-4.6% over 24 hours)
• ETH: $1,919.57 (-4.6% over 24 hours)
• SOL: $77.34 (-5.0% over 24 hours)

Prices as of Friday, November 13, 2026.

Markets

Bitcoin falls below $69,000 to a 12-week low as more than $1.6B in positions are liquidated

Bitcoin dropped below $70,000 for the first time since August, then below $69,000, as a stronger dollar, fears of another Fed rate hike and ETF outflows hit the market. Liquidations of leveraged bets topped $1.6 billion.

• Bitcoin fell below $70,000 on Friday, Nov. 13, for the first time since August, and was down about 3.5% since midnight UTC at the time of CoinDesk’s report. (CoinDesk, CoinDesk)
• Liquidations (forced closures of leveraged trades) topped $1.6 billion, according to CoinDesk. (CoinDesk)
• The Block reported $798 million liquidated in four hours, of which $718.5 million were long positions, as Bitcoin slid below $69,000; it linked the drop to turmoil at Nvidia and Fed-driven jitters. (The Block)
• Outlets pointed to a rallying dollar, persistent inflation and growing expectations of another interest-rate hike. (CoinDesk, Decrypt)
• US spot Bitcoin ETFs are now more than $1.5 billion in net outflows for the year, and CoinDesk said recent rapid redemptions explain the slide. (CoinDesk, Decrypt)
• Decrypt said the fall undoes most of the summer rally, putting Bitcoin back near August levels. (Decrypt)

Context: Long positions are bets that prices will rise; when prices fall, exchanges force-close them, which can push prices down further. Spot ETFs are funds that hold actual bitcoin and trade on stock exchanges, so redemptions mean investors are selling.

Why it matters: Forced selling and fund outflows feed on each other, and the drop is now squeezing companies that hold crypto with borrowed money. At the 23:05 UTC snapshot, Bitcoin was $68,094, down 9.9% over seven days; Ether was $1,919.57 (down 13.8%) and Solana $77.34 (down 13.6%).

Disputed or unconfirmed: Outlets cite different drivers (the dollar and rate expectations, Nvidia turmoil, ETF outflows), and the liquidation totals differ because they cover different time windows.

Security & Hacks

Court lets DOJ seize $1.2B of North Korea’s stolen Binance crypto; FBI takes down FaceStealer servers tied to $400M in thefts

The DOJ has court authority to seize or restrain more than $1.2 billion of the crypto taken from Binance on Oct. 29, part of $2.7 billion frozen. Prosecutors also disrupted infrastructure behind FaceStealer, a fake-video-call scam the FBI links to over $400 million in theft.

• On or about Oct. 29, North Korean military hackers, called TraderTraitor by the FBI, stole more than $6 billion in assets from Binance, according to the DOJ. (Unchained, Bitcoin Magazine)
• On Oct. 31, the FBI, Secret Service and IRS Criminal Investigation issued an alert blaming North Korea and urging crypto firms to block related transactions. (Unchained, Bitcoin Magazine)
• On Thursday, Nov. 12, the DOJ said it had court authorization to seize or restrain over $1.2 billion, within more than $2.7 billion frozen by government and private-sector efforts. (Unchained, Bitcoin Magazine, Cointelegraph)
• Protos named Tether, Ripple, Circle, World Liberty Financial and Arbitrum as firms that froze funds. (Protos)
• The DOJ said the hackers are still moving funds through bridges, mixers and exchanges; Elliptic said some was routed through homemade meme coins. (Unchained, Bitcoin Magazine)
• Separately, federal prosecutors in Los Angeles disrupted cloud infrastructure behind FaceStealer, which the FBI links to over $400 million stolen in 18 months, and seized over 900 victim webcam videos. (Unchained, Bitcoin Magazine, Protos)
• In FaceStealer, hackers invite targets to calls from hijacked accounts, play recorded or deepfaked video of someone they know, then stage a glitch and send a malware ‘fix’. (Unchained, Bitcoin Magazine, Protos)

Context: Binance is one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges. Bitcoin Magazine notes the $1.2 billion is not newly recovered: it comes from the roughly $2.85 billion Binance said on Nov. 3 was frozen, and the court step lets the government move toward forfeiture (taking ownership). Binance has separately covered users’ losses from its own funds.

Why it matters: It shows that quick freezes by token issuers can keep a large share of stolen funds out of reach, though the remainder is still being laundered. The FaceStealer case shows how social engineering is also aimed at open-source software maintainers.

Disputed or unconfirmed: North Korea denies involvement; Kim Yo Jong called the accusation a political provocation (Protos). The DOJ’s figure of over $6 billion stolen is below the $6.34 billion Binance says it has covered. Bitcoin Magazine notes the court papers were not published with the announcement.

Watch next: Further seizure and forfeiture steps; the DOJ said tracing continues.

Regulation & Policy

Trump nominates two Democrats and two Republicans to SEC and CFTC, including a successor to Hester Peirce

Trump sent four nominations to the Senate on Nov. 12, his first across party lines for either agency. Senate Banking has set a hearing on the SEC picks for next week.

• On Nov. 12, Trump sent four nominations to the Senate: two Democrats and two Republicans for the SEC and CFTC. (Unchained, Decrypt)
• Kristin Johnson, a Democrat and former CFTC commissioner, would take the SEC seat Caroline Crenshaw held, with a term to June 5, 2029. (Unchained)
• Steven Levine, a Republican and former White House Council of Economic Advisers general counsel, would take Hester Peirce’s seat, with a term to June 5, 2030. (Unchained, Cointelegraph)
• For the CFTC, Republican Nathan Anonick and Democrat Matthew Rowland, both Senate Agriculture Committee staff who worked on the Clarity Act, are nominated. (Unchained)
• The Senate Banking Committee responded quickly and set the SEC nominees for review next week. (CoinDesk)
• If all are confirmed, the SEC would have four of five seats filled and the CFTC three of five. (Unchained)

Context: The SEC currently has two commissioners, Chairman Paul Atkins and Mark Uyeda, and CFTC Chairman Mike Selig runs his agency alone. Peirce led the SEC’s Crypto Task Force. The Clarity Act is the crypto market-structure bill, and Decrypt describes the commissions as having driven crypto policy since its collapse.

Why it matters: Adding minority-party members would give both regulators bipartisan makeup as Democrats take control of the Senate in January. Unchained found no public crypto stance on Levine, Anonick or Rowland.

Watch next: The Senate Banking hearing next week, and Nov. 20, the reported date for committees to clear nominees before the lame-duck session ends.

DOJ and CFTC sue Arkansas to block its enforcement against Kalshi as prediction-market fight deepens

The federal government sued Arkansas to stop its gambling case against prediction market Kalshi, arguing the CFTC has exclusive jurisdiction over such contracts. CFTC chair Selig criticised states over risk of jail for founders.

• Arkansas sued Kalshi on Nov. 4 in state court, alleging it operates an illegal gambling platform. (The Block, Unchained)
• On Nov. 12, the US and the CFTC sued Arkansas and Attorney General Tim Griffin in federal court, arguing Kalshi’s sports contracts are swaps under CFTC jurisdiction. (Unchained, The Defiant)
• The government seeks a ruling that Arkansas law is preempted and an injunction barring investigations of CFTC-regulated firms and their partners. (Unchained, The Defiant)
• The complaint says Arkansas penalties of up to $10,000 per violation could reach hundreds of millions of dollars. (Unchained)
• It cites preemption actions in 10 other states, and says courts in Arizona, Illinois and Minnesota have issued preliminary injunctions favouring the federal side. (Unchained)
• CFTC Chairman Selig said disputes over whether event contracts are gambling should not put executives at risk of jail. (The Block)

Context: Kalshi is a CFTC-approved exchange (designated contract market since 2020) where users trade on event outcomes, including sports. States regulate gambling, so the dispute is over who has authority. A Nov. 5 CFTC interpretation gave exchanges 30 days to drop domestic geographic restrictions or explain why they can’t.

Why it matters: The outcome could decide whether states can police sports event contracts, and the question may end up at the Supreme Court, as one commentator suggested.

Disputed or unconfirmed: The state calls Kalshi largely a gambling platform; the federal complaint calls the contracts swaps. These are the parties’ own claims.

Watch next: Court response in Arkansas, and the CFTC’s 30-day window from Nov. 5.

Companies & Industry

Bitcoin treasury firms strain under falling prices: Nakamoto owes Kraken $165M and BTCS sells ether to protect its Aave loan

Nakamoto’s debt to Kraken now exceeds its market value, and BTCS sold ether at a loss to keep an Aave loan safe. Both firms hold crypto bought with borrowing.

• CoinDesk reported Nakamoto owes Kraken $165 million, more than its market value, with about 70% of its bitcoin pledged to the exchange, bought at roughly $118,000 each. (CoinDesk)
• Nakamoto pushed a 60 million USDT payment into 2027 and gained credit for protective derivatives, but collateral rules still allow earlier liquidation. (The Defiant)
• Nakamoto’s Q3 operating revenue turned negative after a $5.8 million loss on Bitcoin options, while net income was $85.5 million on higher Bitcoin prices; shares fell 6% premarket. (Cointelegraph)
• Nasdaq-listed BTCS sold ether at a loss to keep a $64 million Aave loan healthy. (CoinDesk)
• BTCS has 46,676 ETH backing the loan, which could become eligible for liquidation if ether falls to around $1,700. (CoinDesk)

Context: Treasury firms are public companies that hold crypto as a main asset, sometimes financed with loans. Aave is a lending protocol where users post crypto as collateral and can be liquidated if its value falls too far. Kraken is a US crypto exchange.

Why it matters: If prices keep falling, forced sales by leveraged holders could add selling pressure and test whether this business model holds.

Quick hits

• Unocoin kept deposits and withdrawals halted over suspect transfers from its BitGo addresses, saying they were signed outside BitGo’s platform while its account was frozen; BitGo denies a breach. (Cointelegraph)
• Coinbase won final OCC clearance for its US trust company, following conditional approval in April; it does not make Coinbase a commercial bank. (The Defiant)
• Maple Finance co-founder Joe Flanagan and COO Ryan O’Shea are leaving over disagreements about strategy. (Cointelegraph)
• Thailand proposed a $148,000 daily cap on certain stablecoin transfers, and a rule that transfers be only between accounts of the same person. (The Block)
• A hijack of the Across Protocol website drained about $402,000 across nine wallets, including about $305,000 from one Aave user. (CryptoSlate)
• Kraken parent Payward’s Q3 adjusted EBITDA fell about 66% to $60 million, while funded accounts grew 37%. (The Block)