Crypto News Daily Squeeze

Why did crypto dump overnight? Blame Japan

Written by Gode S.,

Web3 Market Analyst

Last Updated: December 01, 2025

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GM. The crypto orchard has been busy growing surprises.

Let's wash off the dirt and dig into the fresh picks:

🍍 Japan spooks crypto;

🛡️ Crypto's phishing Olympics;

🍋 Cocoon launches encrypted AI on TON, China bans stablecoins for payments + more

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🍍 Market flavor today

Find out more about the Fear & Greed Index here.

Name		Price	24H	7D
Crypto Market Cap: $2.88T -7.73% (24H)
	Bitcoin BTC	$84,663.90	-7.43%	-1.82%
	Ethereum ETH	$2,749.46	-9.17%	-2.93%
	XRP XRP	$2.01	-8.33%	-3.34%
	BNB BNB	$812.40	-9.31%	-3.61%

Prices as of 11:00 AM EST. Click here to see live data.

It's one of those mornings when you wake up, check the charts, and wish you'd just hit snooze. Ignorance is bliss sometimes.

The whole crypto market looks like it fell down the stairs. And this time it's mainly 'cuz of Japan.

What happened? The cost of borrowing yen increased.

👉 For most people, that means nothing.

👉 ... But for global markets, it means the Bank of Japan might be preparing a rate hike at their December 19 meeting. Some desks put the odds above 50%.

Now, here's why crypto felt it so hard: a ton of professional money uses cheap yen to fuel big, risky positions.

When the cost of that money rises, those positions get cut.

And crypto is at the very top of the "trim first" list because it moves the fastest and carries the most leverage.

Bitcoin price chart from BitDegree, 12-01

Source: BitDegree

Sooo... Bitcoin's $90K level broke, and once that happened, crypto did what it always does when funding conditions tighten - it dumped fast.

👉 Around $600M in leveraged crypto trades got liquidated in a day, with more than $500M of that from long positions;

👉 ETH dropped into the $2.7Ks;

👉 Solana and the rest printed matching red numbers.

And let's be honest - the setup wasn't healthy to begin with. November was already rough. Spot trading volumes on centralized exchanges dropped, Bitcoin ETFs kept bleeding...

So, Japan didn't really break anything; it just tested how much conviction was left in the room. Turns out: not much. And after the drop, the tone turned cautious fast.

But it doesn't feel like pure panic. More like respect for the fact that when global liquidity tightens, crypto doesn't negotiate. It reacts.

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🥝 Memecoin harvest

These coins just did a 10x while I was writing this 💨

Data as of 09:34 AM EST.

Check out these memecoins and plenty more here.

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🛡️ Crypto's phishing Olympics

Getting hacked in crypto doesn't feel like some wild, action-movie heist scene.

It's way simpler: one wrong click, and boom - your coins are gone before your coffee even cools.

And the people waiting for your wrong click might not be some bored teens. They could be North Korea's Lazarus Group, who've basically turned stealing your crypto into an Olympic event.

Hacker

AhnLab, a cybersecurity firm in South Korea, has actually been tracking their moves. And they noticed a trend: spear phishing.

"What's that?" - you, maybe. Glad you asked.

Regular phishing is the "spray and pray" stuff: mass emails, typos, fake UPS messages, whatever. They don't care who bites.

Spear phishing is the opposite.

It's targeted. Personal. They pick you intentionally.

Then they craft an email that looks exactly like something you'd normally trust - a job offer you were expecting, a partner you work with, a conference invite that matches your industry.

They copy the tone. They mimic logos.

They study your LinkedIn, Twitter, GitHub, everything.

When you open it, it feels legit because it's designed specifically to trick your brain, not everyone's.

Spear phishing attacks are a more sophisticated version of phishing that typically requires research and planning from the attacker. Source: Kaspersky

Source: Kaspersky

And the results speak for themselves. Lazarus is suspected of stealing BILLIONS from crypto companies and users.

AhnLab says Lazarus showed up in 31 post-incident reports last year, more than any other group.

Now, here's the part that should really get your attention: AI is giving them upgrades.

AhnLab says attackers are already using AI to generate ultra-clean phishing emails and clone websites that look even better than the real ones.

And yes - deepfake calls are on the horizon. Imagine "your boss" asking you to share a file on a video call, and it's not your boss at all.

(CHILLS!)

But what's the takeaway? Not fear - awareness.

❗️ Use MFA. Verify senders. Slow down before clicking. Don't trust surprise job offers, random attachments, or anything that makes you say "Hmm, weird…" even for half a second. ❗️

Because in crypto, there's no customer service line to negotiate with. If Lazarus gets your keys, they're gone.

Your best defense is not giving them the opening in the first place.