The first week of November saw crypto markets move sharply lower as traders rotated out of risk assets amid global rate concerns and continued ETF redemptions early in the week. Bitcoin briefly dipped under the $100,000 mark, while Ethereum and Solana followed with double-digit declines. Trading volumes were thin as volatility spiked across majors, signaling cautious positioning heading into the weekend.

Sentiment indicators turned decisively negative, with the Crypto Fear & Greed Index falling into the “fear” zone for the first time in months. Analysts told Barron’s the correction appeared technical rather than structural, driven by profit-taking after the October rally. Still, most agreed that ETF inflows later in the week helped slow the slide and may set the stage for stabilization into mid-November.

Stablecoin De-pegs Trigger Fresh Risk Alert in DeFi

Two major algorithmic stablecoins lost their dollar pegs this week, sparking renewed scrutiny of DeFi’s risk management. USDX, issued by Stable Labs, collapsed to around $0.30 on November 6 after liquidity dried up on Curve and Aerodrome, prompting emergency community proposals to restore confidence. Around the same time, Elixir Finance’s deUSD plunged to $0.015 after losses tied to its affiliated protocol Stream Finance were confirmed.

The double de-peg underscored persistent fragility among algorithmic issuers, reminding investors that over-collateralization and transparency remain critical. Analysts told Forklog the incidents are likely to accelerate migration toward fully-backed, regulated stablecoins and compliant DeFi platforms. Broader markets avoided contagion, but the reputational damage to algorithmic designs was significant.

Balancer Hack & the Push for Regulated DeFi

Balancer, a major Ethereum-based automated market maker, was hit in early November by a large exploit that drained just over $100 million from several V2 pools, moving significant amounts of osETH, WETH and wrapped staked ETH into attacker-controlled wallets. The breach exploited a precision/rounding vulnerability in certain stable and composable pools, allowing the attacker to abuse batch swaps and extract value repeatedly before teams paused affected pools and began forensic recovery work. Read the on-chain breakdown at CoinDesk.

The incident underscores recurring risks in complex, permissionless DeFi architecture: small implementation errors can cascade into outsized losses when combined with composability and flash-loan techniques. Protocol teams and institutional users should demand stricter engineering controls - formal verification, layered audits, and timelocked emergency controls and consider regulated, custody-backed alternatives for production-value assets to reduce smart-contract exposure.

Metallicus and InvestiFi Partner to Bring Regulated Stablecoins to Community Banks

Metallicus announced a strategic alliance with InvestiFi, a digital investing platform integrated with more than 15 digital banking and core systems. The partnership enables credit unions and community banks to offer institution-backed stablecoins directly within online and mobile banking apps, allowing account holders to seamlessly convert between stablecoins and U.S. dollars in real time. Through collaboration with InvestiFi’s custodial partners, Metallicus will provide access to both the Metal Blockchain (Layer 0) and XPR Network (Layer 1), giving financial institutions the ability to mint, burn, and hold fully reserved, institution-specific stablecoins in a regulatory-compliant environment. Together, Metallicus and InvestiFi aim to modernize how credit unions and community banks engage members in the digital economy, unifying digital assets, payments, and investments under a single, compliant framework.

Bitcoin ETF Flows

Spot Bitcoin ETFs saw one of their most volatile weeks since September. Monday opened with net outflows of roughly $186 million as BlackRock’s IBIT led redemptions, followed by Tuesday’s $566 million drain dominated by Fidelity’s FBTC (−$356 M) and Ark’s ARKB (−$128 M). Midweek activity stabilized as inflows into smaller issuers partially offset losses, and by Thursday, net flows flipped positive with $240 million in new capital.

Ethereum ETF Flows

Ethereum ETFs mirrored Bitcoin’s volatility, starting the week with $135 million in outflows led by BlackRock’s ETHA (−$81 M) and Grayscale’s ETHE (−$20 M). Tuesday proved the toughest day, with $219 million leaving the segment as risk aversion spiked. By Wednesday, the pace slowed, and Thursday finally turned slightly positive with $12 million in net inflows spread across Fidelity, 21Shares, and minor products.

Solana ETF Flows

Solana ETFs bucked the broader weakness, attracting steady inflows in their first full week of trading. Bitwise’s BSOL and Grayscale’s GSOL combined for more than $120 million in net subscriptions through Thursday, marking one of the strongest debuts for a new crypto ETF. Monday’s $70 million surge was followed by consistent smaller inflows each day, signaling durable investor interest despite the risk-off backdrop.

Biggest Dippers (Coins Available on Metal Pay)

Across coins available on Metal Pay, nearly all majors posted red weeks. Solana (−18.1%) led declines, followed by Metal Blockchain (−17.2%), XPR Network (−15.7%), Ethereum (−15.1%), and Hedera (−14.7%). The pullback hit alts the hardest as traders sought safety in BTC and stablecoins.