Bitcoin absorbed one of crypto’s largest security shocks last week while still posting a weekly decline comparable to—and by some measures smaller than—gold’s loss.
The contrast is notable because Bitcoin faced several crypto-specific pressures simultaneously. Binance suffered a $6.3 billion security breach, U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643.2 million in net outflows on Friday, and more than $1.3 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated. Yet Bitcoin recovered above $78,000 by Monday after reaching a six-week low during the selloff.
The price response looks very different from the collapse surrounding FTX in November 2022.
Bitcoin Absorbs Binance Hack With a Relatively Limited Weekly Loss
Binance’s weekly BTC/USDT candle for Oct. 26 through Nov. 1 closed at approximately $78,354, down 2.25% from the prior weekly close around $80,154.
Separate weekly datasets using different closing conventions place Bitcoin’s decline closer to 3%. Gold, meanwhile, fell approximately 3% during its traditional trading week ending Oct. 30, closing near $3,877 an ounce.
Because Bitcoin trades continuously while gold closes for the weekend, the weekly periods are not perfectly identical. Still, the comparison highlights that Bitcoin did not materially underperform the traditional safe-haven asset despite facing a severe crypto-specific event.
The Crypto Basic previously reported how the Binance hack pushed Bitcoin below its weekend support, while the breach involved approximately $6.3 billion across multiple blockchains.
$643M Leaves Bitcoin ETFs in One Day
Institutional selling added another layer of pressure.
U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $643.2 million in net outflows on Oct. 30, according to Farside data. Reuters identified it as the largest daily Bitcoin ETF outflow of October.
The withdrawal came just one day after the Binance breach and alongside heavy leveraged liquidations.
That makes Bitcoin’s limited weekly decline more significant than the percentage alone suggests. The market had to absorb both an exchange-security shock and substantial selling through regulated investment products.
Binance has since said it replaced about 95% of the stolen assets, while customer withdrawals began stabilizing after an initial spike. The Crypto Basic has also detailed how nearly $300 million in XRP was removed during the Binance exploit.
FTX Produced a Much Different Bitcoin Reaction
The FTX collapse provides a useful historical contrast.
During the week FTX unraveled in November 2022, Bitcoin fell roughly 23%, trading around $16,500 by the end of the week. On Nov. 9 alone, BTC plunged as much as 14% and briefly traded below $16,000.
The circumstances were different. FTX collapsed during an established crypto bear market and triggered broader concerns about insolvency and contagion. The Binance incident is primarily a security breach, and Binance has committed corporate and reserve funds to covering the stolen assets.
Still, the difference in price response is informative.
Bitcoin falling only a few percentage points amid a record exchange hack, $643 million in ETF withdrawals and more than $1 billion in liquidations suggests the market is currently absorbing stress more effectively than it did during the FTX crisis.
That resilience supports the argument that the broader market structure is stronger than in late 2022, although one week of relative performance is not enough by itself to establish that Bitcoin is in a bull market.
The next test is whether Bitcoin can convert that resilience into recovery by reclaiming the $80,000 area, rather than simply stabilizing below the level after the selloff.