Bitcoin

Ethereum

Solana

<h2 id="market-overview">Market Overview 📉</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/2ca67759634d4b8b92c0c3f4f7255979.png">
*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on November 21, 2025.
<a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/bitcoin/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Bitcoin (BTC)</a> ended the week down 11.6%, while <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Ethereum (ETH)</a> showed continued weakness, down 11.51% in the same period. Total crypto market cap collapsed 11.12% to close the week at $3.053T, down from $3.435T in the week prior.
Despite the strong downward moves this week, <a href="https://www.coinglass.com/LiquidationData" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">liquidations</a> have been growing smaller in magnitude over the weeks following the October 10th crash, with this week’s peak at $695M in longs liquidated in a single day. <a href="https://www.coinglass.com/FundingRateHeatMap" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Funding rates</a> show little to no change, continuing to hover around already low levels.
📌 Centralized exchange, Kraken, announces confidential submission of draft registration statement for a proposed initial public offering (IPO) - <a href="https://blog.kraken.com/news/draft-registration-statement-initial-public-offering" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Michael Saylor’s Strategy acquires 8,178 BTC, bringing their total holdings to 649,870 BTC. - <a href="https://www.strategy.com/press/strategy-acquires-8178-btc-and-now-holds-649870-btc_11-17-2025" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Fintech giant, Revolut, partners with Polygon to support stablecoin payments. - <a href="https://x.com/0xPolygon/status/1990813289748836853" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
Why does it matter?
The crypto market extends its losses, with Bitcoin down more than 30% from its all-time highs earlier this quarter, alongside traditional equities weakness and constant selling from Bitcoin OGs, institutions and miners. Traditional finance did not fare much better, with the market showing weakness despite an earnings beat from Mag7 darling, Nvidia. The S&amp;P 500 is down 2% over the week, while the Nasdaq is down 2.45%.
Notable altcoin outperformers this week included <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/grass/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Grass (GRASS)</a>, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/zcash/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Zcash (ZEC)</a>, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/starknet-token/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">StarkNet (STRK)</a>, <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/aster/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Aster (ASTER)</a> and <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/gnosis-gno/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Gnosis (GNO)</a>.
View <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/gainers-losers/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CMC Gainers &amp; Losers board</a>
<h2 id="narrative-of-the-week">Narrative of the Week 📰</h2>
Bitcoin weakness continues into the week, breaking new lows amidst speculation on the future of Bitcoin and the state of the market.
📌 Analysts suggest that investors are moving on from Bitcoin after underperformance against gold and stocks. - <a href="https://x.com/ChrisJKuiper/status/1988608974590009629" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Risks surrounding quantum computing and the longevity of Bitcoin rise again following Vitalik’s comments at DevConnect, warning that quantum computing could break elliptic curve cryptography before 2028. - <a href="https://x.com/solidintel_x/status/1991073381936971849" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Bitcoin OG, Owen Gunden, sells his remaining 2.5K BTC ($228M) via Kraken. He has been selling BTC since late October, having already sent $1.3B worth to Kraken. - <a href="https://x.com/arkham/status/1991528115638800804" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
Why does it matter?
Bitcoin weakens under consistent selling pressure across the board, new risk vectors to the asset, amidst a backdrop of traditional equity weakness.
<h2 id="major-project-updates">Major Project Updates 🗓️</h2>
📌 Ethereum introduces the Ethereum Interop Layer (EIL), designed to make the Ethereum ecosystem feel like one chain again, across all of the L2s. - <a href="https://blog.ethereum.org/2025/11/18/eil" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 MegaETH unveils Frontier, the official launch of MegaETH Mainnet Beta which will kick off in one month. Pre-deposits will open on 25th November with a cap of $250M. - <a href="https://x.com/megaeth/status/1991518377106342097" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 ConsenSys’ Infura launches DIN on EigenCloud as an AVS, decentralizing Web3 RPC infrastructure with permissionless onboarding for node providers and restakers. - <a href="https://x.com/Consensys/status/1990425314246181139" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Privacy project, Aztec, launches Ignition Chain, the first fully decentralized L2 on Ethereum. Anyone can now stake, earn block rewards and coordinate block production. - <a href="https://x.com/aztecnetwork/status/1991214517594759652" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
Why does it matter?
Interoperability has always been the greatest obstacle for Ethereum’s fragmented L2 ecosystem. The upcoming plans for the EIL may finally pave the way for full-scale adoption.
<h2 id="defi-brief">DeFi Brief 🏦</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/42a91af280584937be24f89510b07a08.png">
Source: <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">https://coinmarketcap.com/chain-ranking/</a>
(*Data as of 6:45 AM UTC on November 21, 2025)
📌 Aave introduce Aave App, a consumer app allowing users to earn up to 9% on their stablecoins, with deposit protection of up to $1M. - <a href="https://x.com/aave/status/1990421343175672159" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 DEX aggregator, 1inch, introduces Aqua, enabling deposited assets to be shared across multiple strategies without being locked, unlocking deeper capital efficiency for users. - <a href="https://x.com/1inch/status/1990389518797557845" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Multichain wallet, Phantom, launches Phantom Terminal, enabling advanced charts, real-time data and fast execution, all within their mobile app. - <a href="https://x.com/phantom/status/1990878537700815011" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
Why does it matter?
Consumer apps continue to be the way forward for leading crypto applications, this time with Aave taking the move forward with Aave App.
<h2 id="fundraises">Fundraises 💰</h2>
📌 AI-native social engineering defense platform, Doppel, raises $70M in a Series C funding round led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from a16z, South Park Commons, Sozo Ventures, and more. - <a href="https://www.doppel.com/blog/doppel-series-c" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Crypto card and wallet project, Deblock, raises €30M in a Series A funding round led by Speedinvest, alongside Commerz Ventures and Latitude, among others. - <a href="https://x.com/DeblockApp/status/1991074457683632225" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 RWA-stablecoin incubator, Obex, raises $37M in a funding round led by Framework Ventures, LayerZero and Sky. - <a href="https://x.com/obexincubator/status/1990820932563116064" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 MegaETH global leverage trading platform, HelloTrade, raises $4.6M in a seed round led by Dragonfly Capital, with support from Mirana Ventures and angel investors. - <a href="https://x.com/hellotradeapp/status/1991496917919101388" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
<h2 id="airdrops-abound">Airdrops Abound 🎁</h2>
📌 Debridge opens claims for Season 2 of the DBR token airdrop, which distributes 3% of the total token supply to eligible users. - <a href="https://x.com/deBridgeFdn/status/1991116426674090057" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
📌 Hyperbeat announces their upcoming airdrop, for which the snapshot has been taken on 12th November. Users must sign the terms and conditions on Hyperbeat by 5th December to receive their airdrop. - <a href="https://x.com/hyperbeat/status/1990335219615060220" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Link</a>
<h2 id="tweet-of-the-week">Tweet of the Week 📝</h2><img src="https://academy-public.coinmarketcap.com/optimized-uploads/04740f9442d84e1a90a103509d7f2346.png">
Source: @cobie
Ah shit, here we go again…

CMC Market Pulse: Cycle’s Over, Pack It Up

Table of Contents

Other articles published on Nov 21, 2025

CMC Market Pulse: Dovish Chop

CMC Market Pulse: Santa Rally Loading…

CMC Market Pulse: First Signs of Life

Join our free newsletter for daily crypto updates!