What Really Caused Crypto Markets To Be Dumped By $140 Billion In A Few Hours?

The cryptocurrency markets have once again fallen into a pattern that has started to become boringly familiar in recent weeks.

The metric fell to a three-week low of $3.02 trillion in late trading on Monday, with Bitcoin leading the decline in what was expected to be a volatile week. BTC has lost support at $90,000, losing almost $5,000 in a few hours as it fell to $85,200, the lowest level since the massive leverage flush on December 2. The asset has yet to recover, trading just below $86,000 during Tuesday morning’s Asian trading session.

Crypto Analysts Weigh In

Analyst ‘NoLimit’ offered another bearish outlook, to claim that the crash was caused by China, which “re-tightened regulations on domestic Bitcoin mining,” forcing local miners offline. The same analyst added that the Bank of Japan would crash Bitcoin this week.

Meanwhile, analyst says ‘Sykodelic’ accused it again on derivatives markets, especially high open interest. Today we just had the biggest spike in OI in this decline in six weeks, they said before adding:

“Basically, it’s extremely accepted to be bearish because everyone is really feeling the pressure of the down market. It creates an environment where traders chase every decline with shorts, and short liquidity builds over and over again.”

According to Deribit, there is $2 billion in OI at the strike price of $85,000. Short sellers can hedge by selling spot or futures if the price falls towards their strike, reinforcing the downtrend.

Analyst James Check noted that “Bitcoin market stress is now the highest we have seen since the 2022 bear.”

There were about $100 billion in unrealized losses, falling hash rates, 60% of ETF inflows underwater and government bonds trading below net asset value, he says. explained.

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Meanwhile, analyst ‘Skew’ made his observations on the current state of the market.

$BTC
As far as the market goes, there are a few things to keep in mind

First, the bart-like price action that is seemingly continuing due to a lack of real trading and a lack of directional positioning

Secondly, the clear imbalance between supply and demand during these barts (high &… pic.twitter.com/Yok9R87wX8

— Skew Δ (@52kskew) December 15, 2025

Delay in US crypto legislation

The main reason for the dump is likely the delay in crypto market structure legislation in the United States.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Senate Banking Committee said Monday that there will be no market structure increase this year, delaying key bipartisan legislation until Congress reconvenes in early 2026.

“The commission continues to negotiate and looks forward to an increase in early 2026,” they explained.

The crypto industry had widely expected this legislation, which gives the CFTC authority over spot markets, to make more progress before the end of the year.