On the night of December 1st, people in the crypto world probably couldn't sleep.

Bitcoin plunged directly below $84,000. Although it bounced back to $86,000 afterward, nearly $1 billion in liquidations occurred across the entire network within 24 hours, with over 270,000 people wiped out. This round of liquidation was ruthless.

How did it suddenly crash? You have to look back a few hours.

Problems first appeared in the US stock market—the Dow Jones plummeted more than 420 points, down 0.9%, and both the Nasdaq and S&P were also falling. But the real trigger was actually across the Pacific. On Monday, Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda hinted that there might be a rate hike this month. As soon as he said this, Japan's two-year government bond yield shot up to over 1%—the first time since the 2008 financial crisis.

The chain reaction in the bond market quickly spread to the US: the 10-year US Treasury yield surged nearly 8 basis points in a single day, reaching 4.09%, marking the biggest daily jump in over a month.

When liquidity tightens, the riskiest assets are always the first to suffer. The crypto market instantly entered panic selling mode, with Bitcoin, ZEC, and SATS all plunging across the board. Ultimately, global liquidity is the lifeblood of this bull market. Even a slight tightening expectation in Japan put too much strain on leverage here.

The question now is: If Japan really raises rates in December, how far off is the next wave of liquidations?