Bitcoin and Ether Slide to Two-Month Lows as US Midterms Raise Fears of Tougher Crypto Rules

Cryptocurrencies fell sharply in late Sunday trade, with bitcoin and ether touching their lowest levels for more than two months, as investors fretted a Democratic Party-controlled US Congress will toughen regulation on the asset class. Bitcoin, the oldest and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, fell by more than 2% to $73,708, the lowest price since August. Ether fell about 5% to $2,223, also the lowest since August. Crypto markets have been shaken in recent sessions by a $6 billion heist at Binance, the world's biggest exchange, and the election to office of high-profile critics in last week's US midterms.

jajoy39

Nov 9, 2026 - 17:58

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A close-up of a cryptocurrency trading screen showing Bitcoin down 1.35 percent, with red declining price charts and other coins also in the red.

Bitcoin and Ether Slide to Two-Month Lows as US Midterms Raise Fears of Tougher Crypto Rules

Cryptocurrencies fell sharply in late Sunday trade, with bitcoin and ether touching their lowest levels for more than two months, as investors fretted a Democratic Party-controlled US Congress will toughen regulation on the asset class. Bitcoin, the oldest and largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, fell by more than 2% to $73,708, the lowest price since August. Ether fell about 5% to $2,223, also the lowest since August.

A choppy week turns into a sell-off

The move extends a choppy week for crypto. Bitcoin had jumped above $80,000 just after the election, then gave back the gains. On Thursday, November 5, a selloff in chip and AI stocks dragged the Nasdaq lower, and bitcoin fell from $80,882 overnight to $75,573 in the afternoon, while ether lost more than 6%. The slide continued into the weekend, with late Sunday trading taking both coins to their lowest levels since August — wiping out the gains of the last two months for now.

Why the midterms matter for crypto

The political backdrop is central to the market's concern. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate in the November 3, 2026 midterms, and the new Congress convenes in January 2027. Traders are now pricing in a harder road for crypto-friendly laws. The industry-backed CLARITY Act, a bill that would set federal rules for crypto markets and decide which regulator polices crypto tokens and trading platforms — the Securities and Exchange Commission or the Commodity Futures Trading Commission — already stalled in the Senate in September and now faces a harder path. Sherrod Brown, a longtime crypto skeptic, won Ohio's Senate race, and Senator Elizabeth Warren is expected to chair the Senate Banking Committee. No new crypto law has been passed, and the tougher rules investors fear are expectations, not enacted laws.

A market already shaken by the Binance heist

Crypto markets have been shaken in recent sessions by a $6 billion heist at Binance, the world's biggest exchange, and the election to office of high-profile critics in last week's US midterms. The reported $6.3 billion theft from Binance is the largest crypto theft on record. A two-month low is an important technical reference, but it does not by itself establish that a bear market has begun — and it does not mean prices cannot fall further, or that they will bounce back.