At a glance
- CoinDesk tied the selling to a Wall Street Journal report Saturday morning that Washington was pulling staff from embassies and military bases across the Middle East as intelligence indicated Iran was preparing attacks on Americans.
- A weekend crypto move leaves a checkable operational question for allocators: whether subscriptions and redemptions dated over the weekend use Friday's close or the weekend mark, and when a weekend price reaches fund NAVs and client statements.
- CoinDesk reported the evacuations appear to go well beyond earlier reports this week that the U.S. had ordered some diplomatic staff in Saudi Arabia to vacate.
Bitcoin traded at $79,700 on Saturday, Oct. 24, down 2.2% over 24 hours, while ether, XRP and solana fell 3% to 4%.
CoinDesk tied the selling to a Wall Street Journal report Saturday morning that Washington was pulling staff from embassies and military bases across the Middle East as intelligence indicated Iran was preparing attacks on Americans. It described crypto prices as sinking to multi-week lows.
A weekend crypto move leaves a checkable operational question for allocators: whether subscriptions and redemptions dated over the weekend use Friday's close or the weekend mark, and when a weekend price reaches fund NAVs and client statements.
"Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel," Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, wrote in a Friday memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to CoinDesk. "The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries."
CoinDesk reported the evacuations appear to go well beyond earlier reports this week that the U.S. had ordered some diplomatic staff in Saudi Arabia to vacate. President Trump told a Florida rally on Friday that "we may do another little 'Epic Fury,'" and the report places the threatened re-escalation after the U.S. midterms in early November.
Reported by the Digital Assets desk from CoinDesk and The Wall Street Journal (as reported by CoinDesk). Published . Updated Oct 25, 2026 · 7:36 p.m. ET. Corrections