Bitcoin’s Weekend Exit Drops Below $80,000 as Evacuations Expand

bitcoin sank below $80,000 on Saturday, Oct 24, 2026, reaching its weakest level in more than one month as the U.S. moved to evacuate personnel across the Middle East on the threat of Iranian attacks.

WSJ reported Saturday morning that the U.S. was quickly evacuating personnel from embassies and military bases throughout the Middle East after intelligence suggested Iran was preparing attacks against Americans. The evacuations appeared to go well beyond reports from earlier this week that the U.S. was ordering some diplomatic staff in Saudi Arabia to vacate.

“Iran has substantially increased efforts to target U.S. personnel,” wrote Jay Clayton, the director of national intelligence, in a Friday memo to Secretary of State Marco Rubio. “The lethal plotting efforts by the Iranians against U.S. citizens have reached advanced stages in both the Middle East and certain other countries.”

President Trump has threatened a re-escalation in the war against Iran after the midterms in early November. “We may do another little ‘Epic Fury,’” Trump said at a rally in Florida on Friday.

Crypto prices sank to multi-week lows, with bitcoin down 2.2% over the past 24 hours to $79,700. Ether, XRP, and solana were down in the 3%-4% range.