New York, May 16, 2026, 09:04 EDT
- Bitcoin dropped near $78,000 after leveraged long trades got wiped out.
- Solana, XRP and Ether all dropped in the selloff, despite a key crypto bill moving forward in a U.S. Senate panel.
- Rising Treasury yields and oil are putting pressure on the market’s call for looser policy.
Bitcoin dropped close to $78,000 in Asian hours Saturday, wiping out more than $500 million for traders long on crypto as inflation fears and a bond selloff hit the sector. Data from CoinGlass referenced by CoinDesk pointed to $581 million in crypto liquidations over the day. Most, or $552 million, came from long positions—leveraged trades that rely on prices going up.
Crypto lost ground after a brief rally that had been fueled by bets on better U.S. regulation. That ran out of steam as traders went back to watching rising U.S. yields, stronger oil, and signs the Fed could keep policy tight or even hike again this year.
Bitcoin changed hands near $78,000, falling roughly 3% in the past 24 hours. According to CoinMarketCap, the latest price stood close to $78,041, putting its market cap around $1.56 trillion. Ether was quoted at about $2,177, while Solana held around $86 and XRP at $1.41, CoinMarketCap data showed.
Solana dropped 5% to $86.98, XRP was down 4.3% at $1.41, and Ether slipped 3.3% to $2,189, according to CoinDesk. Bitcoin accounted for $189 million in liquidations, ahead of Ether’s $151 million. The biggest single liquidation was a $21.59 million BTCUSDT order on Bitget.
The selloff spread outside crypto. Bloomberg said Friday that Bitcoin dropped as much as 3.4% to around $78,600, a two-week low, while stocks, bonds and other risk assets also slid on worries about inflation and high oil prices. Ether fell nearly 4% at one stage to about $2,200.
Pressure mounted one day after the Senate Banking Committee passed H.R. 3633, the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, on a 15-9 vote. The committee said the bill, which would create digital asset rules, now heads to the Senate floor.
Senate Republicans all voted for the bill in committee, with Democrats Ruben Gallego and Angela Alsobrooks also in support, Reuters said. But Gallego and Alsobrooks told reporters their backing could change before a Senate floor vote as discussions go on, so the bill’s future is still unclear.
Bitcoin’s drop under $80,000 hit XRP, Solana and Ether, with gains after the committee vote wiped out, according to a Yahoo-linked 24/7 Wall St. report. The report also flagged $2.6 billion in Bitcoin, Ether, XRP and Solana options expiring on Deribit as adding more pressure, as traders unwound hedges before settlement.
Bond markets took the lead Friday. The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield gained 13.6 basis points to 4.595%, Reuters reported. The 30-year yield spiked to 5.1272%, its highest since May 22. Futures put the probability of at least a 25-basis-point Fed hike by December at 49.5%, up from 14.3% last week.
Crypto tends to struggle when borrowing costs climb. Tokens like Bitcoin don’t pay any interest, so when bond yields go up, they can lose appeal with leveraged fast-money traders.
Bitcoin’s recent dip is just another sign of a macro-driven risk-off shift, according to Riya Sehgal, research analyst at Delta Exchange. Sehgal told the Economic Times the coin keeps running into sellers at the $82,000-$82,500 zone, where momentum traders are setting their bets.
Bitcoin faces a risk if the selloff shifts from forced liquidations to broader fund flows. High oil prices, rising yields or weaker ETF demand could keep Bitcoin from getting back to the low-$80,000s. But if inflation cools, the leverage that dragged prices down Saturday might help them recover just as fast.
Right now, the market is sending a clearer signal than lawmakers in Washington. A crypto bill could help the sector in the long run, but over the weekend, traders sold whatever they could get out of, not just what they preferred to hold.
