Bitcoin falls to 12-week low as Jensen Huang’s exit from Nvidia rattles markets

Huang resigned as the company's president, CEO and board member effective immediately, while MSCI plans to remove bitcoin treasury firm Strategy from its indexes on Nov. 30.

BitcoinBitcoin (BTC) fell to its lowest level in nearly 12 weeks on Thursday, trading as low as $71,200, as markets reacted to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang's abrupt departure and continued uncertainty surrounding potential selling pressure from MSCI index removals.

Bitcoin was down 3.4% to $71,600 at publication time. Other major crypto assets, including Ethereum, Solanaand XRP, also declined more than 3.5% over the past 24 hours.

More than $750 million in crypto positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours, including over $634 million in long positions, according to CoinGlass.

"We remain cautious on BTC as it tests $73k, the level we flagged as first potential support, with no convincing signs of size stepping in at these prices," Jasper De Maere, OTC trader at Wintermute, said Thursday morning. "Some bluechip names are seeing activity, but without large buyers the majors need ETF flows to carry them. That changes if flows turn structurally positive for several days in a row."

Meanwhile, MSCI confirmed it will remove Strategy from its indexes on Nov. 30, raising the prospect of selling in the bitcoin proxy. Wintermute described the move as "a passive-selling risk on a BTC proxy where we have no size estimate."

Jensen Huang resigns as Nvidia CEO

Nvidia's leadership turmoil had been building over the past week. The company launched an investigation into Huang last weekend following reports that he had been a "target of a foreign intelligence effort" amid an alleged affair with a Chinese spy. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Huang was also having an affair with a woman who directly reports to him.

On Thursday morning, Huang resigned as president, CEO, and board member, effective immediately. CFO Colette Kress was appointed interim CEO while the board searches for a permanent successor. Kress joined Nvidia in 2013 and will remain CFO during the transition.

President Donald Trump also weighed in, saying former Apple CEO Tim Cook should take the helm of the AI chip developer. "[T]here is only one man to take his place," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "A Legend replaces a Legend!"