Crypto news, 4 November 2026: the US vote clouds the CLARITY Act, Binance reconstructs its hack and a French bank confirms a cyberattack
Bitcoin recovers after an overnight dip tied to the midterms, ETFs stay in outflow, the CLARITY Act loses momentum, Binance explains how it was attacked, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa confirms a cyberattack and Switzerland ranks sixth in a tokenised infrastructure study.
Wednesday, 4 November 2026. We gather the relevant facts of the last 24 hours, each checked against a primary or reliable source. The day is shaped by the US midterm elections, new details on the Binance attack, a confirmation from a French bank and a study on the Swiss financial centre.
Markets: a rebound after the vote, ETFs still in outflow
According to CoinDesk, bitcoin fell towards 75,600 dollars around 4:00 (Zurich time) as results showed the Democrats winning, then recovered during the morning. On CoinGecko, checked today at 18:06 (Zurich time), bitcoin trades around 80,400 dollars, about 65,700 Swiss francs (+3.6% over 24 hours). Ether is near 2,429 dollars (+5.9%).
Farside Investors data show that US spot bitcoin ETFs recorded net outflows of 115.6 million dollars on Tuesday, 3 November, a third negative session in a row. BlackRock's IBIT lost 95.0 million, while Bitwise's BITB took in 21.9 million. Ether ETFs lost 85.3 million, their seventh consecutive negative session.
United States: the Democratic win weighs on the CLARITY Act
The Democrats have won control of both chambers of Congress. According to CoinDesk, the prospects of the CLARITY Act, the crypto market structure bill that failed a procedural vote in September despite Republican control, have narrowed further. Several industry figures quoted by the outlet see the bill as hard to pass in its current form and expect more hearings and investigations on money laundering, cybersecurity and consumer protection. Others see room for a bipartisan text with stronger safeguards against conflicts of interest. According to figures cited by CoinDesk, crypto political action committees spent about 170.5 million dollars on the campaign.
Security: Binance explains how it was attacked
Binance has published the initial findings of its investigation into the theft of about 6.34 billion dollars on 29 October. According to the BBC and CNA, the attackers approached an engineer through a legitimate job platform and set up interviews with a non-existent company. In the second interview they had him download an "assignment" containing malware that endpoint protection did not detect. Using that computer and an internal AI tool, they then took control of the laptops of two other engineers. Binance says it has replenished 98% of the affected assets, and according to CNA about 2.85 billion has been frozen. The FBI attributes the attack to North Korea, which denies it.
France: Crédit Mutuel Arkéa confirms a cyberattack
After investigator ZachXBT named it as the suspected victim of the theft of more than 133 million dollars we covered yesterday, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa confirmed in a press release that it was hit by a cyberattack that enabled fraudulent transactions. The bank says the incident is under control, that client assets were not affected and that the amounts are still being assessed. The release does not mention crypto or confirm the figure. According to Bitquery, cited by CoinDesk, 108.8 million in USDC was withdrawn from accounts at Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX on 1 and 2 November.
Switzerland: sixth place in the Swiss Blockchain Federation study
The Swiss Blockchain Federation has published its "Infrastructure first" study, which compares 15 financial centres across eleven dimensions to assess where regulated infrastructure for tokenised assets is being built. Switzerland ranks sixth, behind the United States, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Germany and Japan. The study acknowledges the strength of the legal framework but points to gaps in implementation speed, international connectivity and scale. Its demands include faster and more predictable FINMA procedures and a workable framework for Swiss franc stablecoins.
Sources
- CoinDesk, the market after the vote: https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2026/11/04/bitcoin-rebounds-from-midterm-dip-as-defi-leads-gains
- CoinGecko, prices checked on 4 November 2026 at 18:06: https://www.coingecko.com/en/coins/bitcoin
- Farside Investors, bitcoin ETF flows: https://farside.co.uk/btc/
- Farside Investors, ether ETF flows: https://farside.co.uk/eth/
- CoinDesk, the CLARITY Act after the elections: https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/11/04/u-s-democratic-sweep-could-be-the-final-nail-in-the-clarity-act-s-coffin
- BBC, Binance's initial findings: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/ck5ynwz9gy67o
- CNA, details of the Binance attack: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/binance-reveals-hackers-used-fake-job-interviews-malicious-code-in-us6-bn-heist-6517421
- Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, press release of 4 November 2026: https://www.actusnews.com/en/credit-mutuel-arkea/pr/2026/11/04/credit-mutuel-arkea-announces-it-has-been-the-target-of-a-cyberattack
- CoinDesk, ZachXBT and Crédit Mutuel Arkéa: https://www.coindesk.com/business/2026/11/04/zachxbt-names-french-bank-credit-mutuel-arkea-as-suspected-victim-of-usd133-million-crypto-theft
- Swiss Blockchain Federation, "Infrastructure first" study: https://blockchainfederation.ch/starkes-fundament-zu-wenig-tempo-die-schweiz-unter-druck-im-digitalen-finanzmarkt/
