Bitcoin fell below $70,000 early Friday, touching its lowest level since Aug. 19, as a stronger dollar and rising Fed rate-hike odds weighed on risk assets, CoinDesk reported.

The largest cryptocurrency dropped to $69,000 and is down 17% this quarter, reversing much of the rally of the previous three months. Ether fell below $2,000 for the first time since August, XRP traded near $1, Solana slipped below $80 and smaller tokens including GT, Stacks and XMR fell 7% or more.

The Dollar Index traded above 103, its highest since April 2025, having risen nearly 2% since early October as expectations for Fed tightening firmed. Odds of a half-point December increase have increased since this week's hotter-than-expected October CPI reading.

Middle East tensions added to the pressure, with Iran's IRGC saying it destroyed a US early-warning radar in Bahrain in response to an air attack on a telecoms tower in Sirik, describing the strike as a serious warning to the aggressor enemy and demanding an end to what it called aerial provocations and oil smuggling in the Strait of Hormuz. WTI still traded around $88, slightly below Thursday's high of $89.15.

More than $1.3 billion of crypto futures bets were liquidated in 24 hours, of which bitcoin accounted for $677 million, according to Coinglass. Nearly $500 million occurred as BTC broke below $70,000, with the largest single liquidation a long BTC position worth more than $31 million on Hyperliquid.