As reports that the U.S. is expanding personnel evacuations in the Middle East make headlines, Bitcoin fell to $79,700, while daily losses for Ethereum, XRP, and Solana reached 3%–4%.
According to prices reported by CoinDesk, Bitcoin lost 2.2% over the past 24 hours, falling below $80,000. Prices across the cryptocurrency market dropped to their lowest levels in several weeks, while major altcoins fell more sharply than Bitcoin.
Ethereum, XRP, and Solana fall further
Ethereum, XRP, and Solana lost between 3% and 4% over the same 24-hour period. The weekend sell-off thus spread beyond Bitcoin to other major cryptocurrencies in the market.
U.S. evacuations in the Middle East expand
One development being watched by markets was the U.S. evacuation measures for its personnel in the region. According to a report published by The Wall Street Journal on Saturday morning, the U.S. accelerated the evacuation of personnel from embassies and military bases in the Middle East following intelligence that Iran was preparing attacks against Americans.
The scope of the evacuations went beyond instructions earlier in the week for some diplomatic personnel in Saudi Arabia to leave. A Friday-dated intelligence memo sent to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, cited in the report, alleged that Iran was stepping up efforts to target U.S. personnel and that attack plans had reached an advanced stage in the Middle East and some other countries.
U.S. President Donald Trump also discussed the possibility of a new military operation against Iran after the early November midterm elections at a rally in Florida on Friday.
Not investment advice.