Из жизни альткоинов

The crypto market is yet to have an altcoin season the likes of what was seen back in 2021, despite the Bitcoin price hitting new all-time highs over the last two years. This has alluded to the fact that the Bitcoin dominance over the market remains very high, thus not leaving any room for altcoins to run. Nevertheless, this has not deterred the expectations of an altcoin season among investors, and many believe that when it finally comes, it will be more explosive than 2021.

Altcoin Market Is Winning Against Bitcoin

Bitcoin has often led the cryptocurrency and by extension, its performance has influenced the advent of altcoin seasons. This is due to the way altcoins measure up to the leading cryptocurrency with each cycle, and this one looks to be prepping for a major rally.

According to analyst Mark Chadwick on X, altcoins are already bringing a major bullish pattern against Bitcoin. This comes as the ALT/BTC chart has marked its fourth consecutive green monthly candle, and this has led to the confirmation of a bullish crossover.

The crypto analyst pointed out that the last time altcoins made such a bullish crossover against Bitcoin was back in 2021. The result of this was the most explosive altcoin season that the crypto market has seen to date, leading altcoins on runs that saw their values rise by many multiples.

Why This Altcoin Season Will Be Better Than The Last

Despite the last altcoin season being one of legendary status, Mark believes that it will pale in comparison to what’s coming. A number of reasons were given for this as to why it will be a better altcoin bull market, and this has to do with the broader market optics.

Firstly, the analyst points out that the Fed is putting billions of dollars into the financial market. This is bullish as liquidity tends to drive growth. Next is that the Clarity ACT that will provide formal regulation for cryptocurrencies by putting them into categories of either securities or commodities.

Another bullish factor that the analyst points out is that the SEC is now pro-crypto with the Trump administration. Then, there is the fact that there has been rising activity from the NYSE and NASDAQ when it comes to crypto trading.

The last two of the catalysts given have to do with adoption. The first is the fact that Fannie Mae, the US Federal National Mortgage Association, announced last week that it will begin allowing Bitcoin as collateral for loans. Also, there is the fact that Mastercard is now building crypto rails to allow for payments using blockchain technology.

Taking all of these into account, Mark believes that it is a “setup of epic proportions.” If this plays out as expected, then the next altcoin season could surpass the previous one, and altcoins would end up winning against Bitcoin.

В марте криптоиндустрия столкнулась с ростом числа взломов. За месяц было зафиксировано 46 инцидентов с совокупным ущербом $39,8 млн — это максимальный показатель с ноября 2024 года, сообщили аналитики компании CertiK, работающей в сфере кибербезопасности.

Члены Палаты представителей штата Джорджия Брюс Уильямсон (Bruce Williamson), Ноэль Уильямс-младший (Noel Williams, Jr.) и Джонни Частейн (Johnny Chastain) от Республиканской партии предложили законопроект об ограничении использования криптоматов для борьбы с мошенничеством.

Основатель MN Trading и аналитик Михаэль ван де Поппе (Michael van de Poppe) заявил, что текущая стабильность биткоина может указывать на формирование базы для дальнейшего роста.

Taiwanese authorities have approved a new draft of their crucial crypto legislation, introducing severe penalties for unlicensed or fraudulent activities related to stablecoins and other digital assets.

Taiwan Approves $6M Fines To Combat Crypto Fraud

On Friday, local news outlets reported that the Executive Yuan passed the draft of the Virtual Asset Service Act (VASA) on April 2, marking a major step to regulate crypto assets in Taiwan.

The VASA, introduced by the Financial Supervisory Commission (FSC) last year, supports the efforts by Taiwanese authorities to establish a comprehensive crypto framework for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs) and stablecoin issuers.

In 2024, the FSC overhauled its Anti-Money Laundering (AML) framework to include crypto businesses, adding stricter AML guidelines for VASPs and requiring all digital asset firms to complete the AML registration by September 2025.

Premier Cho Jung-tai explained that the new framework, which will be implemented in four gradual phases, includes industry self-regulation and an AML compliance registration system. The measures aim to enhance the security of virtual asset transactions, pilot custody services, and support the growth of domestic financial innovation, he added.

According to the reports, the draft requires VASPs to operate exclusively in this field and meet specific standards for their company name, organizational structure, and capital. Financial institutions can also operate VASP services in addition to their other businesses, if approved.

In addition, special regulations would be customized to suit the nature of each service provider. For instance, trading platforms would be required to establish clear guidelines for listing and delisting virtual assets.

The draft also includes heavy penalties for unlicensed and fraudulent activities, with offences involving crypto falsification, concealment, or price manipulation risking 3-10 years in prison and fines of up to NTD 200 million, worth $6.25 million.

Meanwhile, firms that issue stablecoins without a license could face up to seven years in prison and fines of up to NTD 100 million, or about $3.13 million, according to the draft.

New Stablecoin Regulations To Prohibit Interest Payments

Officials outlined the main differences between the recently passed VASA draft and the FSC’s original text regarding stablecoin guidelines, which include issuance and redemption regulations, restrictions on interest or returns, and internal control and cybersecurity management.

Under the new draft, the issuance and redemption of stablecoins must be conducted at face value, and issuers may not refuse redemption requests from holders. Issuers are also prohibited from paying interest or returns to holders on the stablecoins they issue, aligning with international trends.

Lastly, issuers must establish and maintain robust internal control and audit systems, along with information security management mechanisms, to ensure the proper issuance and redemption of stablecoins.

FSC Deputy Chairman Chen Yen-liang asserted that stablecoin issuance is not currently limited to banks, but noted that the financial institutions are “generally better positioned to meet the relevant requirements” due to their capital strength and risk management capabilities.

For other operators, different capital thresholds and operating guarantee requirements would be set based on the nature of their business, with further details to be announced after the legislation officially passes.

In December, FSC Chairman Peng Jin-long revealed that the island’s first regulated stablecoin could debut this year. As reported by Bitcoinist, stablecoin-centered regulations would be developed within six months after the VASA’s approval, setting the launch of locally issued tokens pegged to the NTD or the USD to the second half of 2026.

Deputy Chairman Chen added that the regulator would adopt a “gradual opening” model, and relevant regulations would be developed by authorities alongside the Central Bank.

Участник пула CKPool — майнер-одиночка с хешрейтом 230 TH/s — добыл блок Биткоина и получил вознаграждение в размере 3,139 BTC (около $210 000). Об этом сообщил администратор пула Кол Коливас (Con Colivas).

On-chain investigator ZachXBT has published a new report, titled “The Circle USDC Files,” alleging more than $420 million in compliance failures tied to the company’s USDC stablecoin since 2022. 

The analysis, released on social media platform X on Friday, chronicles multiple high‑profile decentralized finance (DeFi) exploits in which Circle allegedly failed to use its on‑chain freezing and blacklist capabilities to halt the flow of stolen funds.

Alleged Inaction By Circle

Circle’s token contract includes an explicit freeze/blacklist function, and the company’s terms of service reserve the right to restrict access for suspected illicit actors “in its sole discretion.” 

Yet, ZachXBT’s report claims that in many widely reported thefts and hacks, the issuer either delayed action or did not freeze funds at all, allowing attackers to move large sums across blockchains and convert them into other assets.

The report opens with the April 1, 2026, Drift Protocol exploit, in which the attacker drained roughly $280 million. According to ZachXBT, the thief used Circle’s Cross‑Chain Transfer Protocol (CCTP) to bridge more than 232 million USDC from Solana (SOL) to Ethereum (ETH) in over 100 transactions.

The incident had ripple effects across the Solana ecosystem, indirectly impacting more than 10 DeFi projects. Despite the funds moving through Circle’s native bridge for hours, the report says no USDC was frozen during the laundering.

ZachXBT also details a January 25, 2026, attack on SwapNet that resulted in $16 million being stolen. Roughly $3 million in USDC remained in the exploiter’s address for two days. Both law enforcement and private‑sector analysts reportedly submitted temporary freeze requests to Circle for that address, but Circle did not act. 

Nine‑Figure Losses In Crypto Hacks

Among several other cases cited in the report, ZachXBT also points to broader, long‑running patterns. In April 2024, he published a separate investigation into the Lazarus Group laundering that traced funds from more than two dozen hacks being converted to fiat. 

Law enforcement requested freezes from four stablecoin issuers — Circle, Tether, Paxos, and Techteryx — for two addresses tied to that investigation. The report claims the other three issuers acted quickly, while Circle took approximately 4.5 months longer to freeze the same addresses.

Taken together, ZachXBT says these cases — many of them public and high‑value — add up to nine‑figure losses to the crypto ecosystem caused by repeated inaction over a multi‑year period. 

He stresses that the $420 million-plus figure covers only major public incidents and that the true total could be substantially higher. The overarching claim is that Circle possesses the contractual and technical tools to intervene, yet has not used them consistently or promptly, with concrete harm to victims and the broader community.

“They have every tool and resource available to do better. They just haven’t,” he writes, closing his report with a pointed question: who, exactly, is Circle serving?

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Минфин России подготовил поправки в Налоговый кодекс, предусматривающие освобождение от НДС услуг криптообменников и сервисов хранения цифровых активов. Об этом сообщил «Интерфакс» со ссылкой на источники.

Аналитик Bloomberg Intelligence Джеймс Сейффарт (James Seyffart) допустил, что со временем объем активов в спотовых биржевых фондах (ETF) на биткоин может превысить показатели фондов, ориентированных на золото.

В Усть-Куте Иркутской области семейная пара потеряла около 1,6 млн рублей в результате мошеннической схемы, связанной с инвестициями в криптовалюты. Об этом сообщили в региональном управлении МВД.

On-chain data shows the Exchange Inflow indicator has shot up for USDC, something that could be relevant for Bitcoin and other digital assets.

USDC Exchange Inflow Has Hit The Highest Level In Months

As highlighted by CryptoQuant community analyst Maartunn in a new post on X, the Exchange Inflow recently observed a surge for Circle’s stablecoin, USDC. The “Exchange Inflow” here is an indicator that keeps track of the total amount of a given asset that’s being transferred to wallets connected to centralized exchanges.

Generally, one of the main reasons why investors deposit their tokens to these platforms is for selling-related purposes, so a spike in the metric can indicate elevated demand for swapping the cryptocurrency. In the case of assets like Bitcoin, this can naturally have a bearish effect on the price.

For a stablecoin like USDC, however, there is no such effect as its price is by definition stable around the $1 mark. That said, exchange inflows related to the asset can still matter for the wider sector.

Often, investors stash their capital away in the form of these fiat-tied tokens when they want to wait for an opportune moment to enter the volatile side. Once traders feel that the time is right, they deposit their stablecoins to exchanges, swapping them for Bitcoin or any digital asset of their choice. This shifting can naturally provide a buying boost to the target cryptocurrency.

As the chart below, shared by Maartunn, shows, the USDC Exchange Inflow has observed a massive spike during the past day, implying exchanges have received a large amount of the stablecoin.

The latest deposit spree has seen the inflow of 778,566,191.65 USDC, the largest level since September 2025. Back then, the large spike led into Bitcoin’s run to the new all-time high (ATH) above $126,000 in early October. It now remains to be seen whether the new surge in the indicator is a sign of market buying.

Since stablecoins are often used for injecting capital into the volatile side of the sector, their supply is considered as a measure of the sector’s liquidity waiting on the sidelines. An indicator called the Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR) compares the market cap of Bitcoin against this liquidity to estimate how much room the cryptocurrency might have to grow.

As the analyst pointed out in another X post, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) of the BTC SSR has declined into the green zone recently.

Based on the trend, Maartunn explained, “There is still a large amount of stablecoin liquidity relative to Bitcoin’s market cap, suggesting buying power remains on the sidelines.”

BTC Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $66,600, up 1% over the last 24 hours.

Tokyo-listed investment firm Metaplanet generated close to $19 million in operating revenue during the first quarter of 2026 from a Bitcoin options strategy that runs separately from its main treasury — and that money is being funneled back into buying more of the cryptocurrency.

A Two-Track Approach To Bitcoin Accumulation

The company operates what it calls a Bitcoin Income Generation business, a ring-fenced portfolio that uses collateral-secured options contracts to produce income. Once those option cycles close out, the returns can be converted into direct Bitcoin purchases and added to the firm’s long-term holdings.

Based on company filings dated April 2, trailing 12-month revenue from that segment reached roughly $71.5 million when combined with full-year 2025 figures of nearly $54 million.

That income engine ran alongside a significant buying spree. Metaplanet acquired 5,075 Bitcoin in Q1 at an average price of roughly $79,898 per coin, spending about $405 million in total.

During Q1 2026, Metaplanet acquired 5075 BTC for $405.48 million at ~$79,898 per bitcoin and has achieved BTC Yield of 2.8% YTD 2026. As of 03/31/2026, we hold 40,177 $BTC acquired for ~$4.18 billion at ~$104,106 per bitcoin. $MPJPY $MTPLF pic.twitter.com/IMxC3lwYCx

— Simon Gerovich (@gerovich) April 2, 2026

The purchases pushed its cumulative holdings to 40,177 Bitcoin — enough to rank it as the third-largest publicly traded Bitcoin treasury in the world, according to Bitcoin Treasuries data.

Metaplanet Chief executive Simon Gerovich shared the figures in investor materials, reporting a year-to-date BTC Yield of 2.8% for 2026. That metric tracks how Bitcoin holdings grow on a per-share basis. It does not measure income.

Cost Basis Sits Well Above Current Market Price

The firm’s average acquisition cost across its entire holdings stands at $104,106 per coin, according to the same materials. With Bitcoin trading around $66,550 at the time of the announcement, the company’s treasury carries a substantial gap between what it paid and what those coins are worth on the open market today.

Despite the headline acquisition numbers, the market response was muted. Metaplanet shares fell almost 2% on Thursday to $302, down from $308 the day before, data from Yahoo Finance shows. Annual revenue and operating profit forecasts were left unchanged from guidance issued in January.

Rival Firm Exited Metaplanet Stake At A Loss

Elsewhere in the listed Bitcoin vehicle space, Nakamoto disclosed Wednesday that it unloaded 284 Bitcoin for $20 million in March and unwound a significant portion of its stake in Metaplanet at a loss during the first quarter. The move underlines how exposed these corporate treasury strategies are to price swings in a volatile asset class.

Metaplanet has not changed its full-year outlook for the period ending December 31, 2026, and continues to pursue both sides of its strategy — accumulating Bitcoin for the long term while using options to keep fresh capital moving into the treasury.

Featured image from fundacionblazer.org, chart from TradingView

The XRP Ledger is recording some of the strongest network activity figures in its history. Daily active addresses have climbed back above 200,000, the number of daily transactions has set an all-time record, and the ledger’s total wallet count recently breached a threshold not seen in its 13-year existence. 

On the other hand, the XRP’s price, currently trading around $1.31, has declined for six consecutive months. However, the surge in on-chain activity may be laying the foundation for a move that price has yet to reflect.

Active Addresses And Transactions Numbers At Peaks

Recent data from XRPScan shows daily active users, measured by addresses carrying SourceTag and DestinationTag activity, have climbed back above 200,000, a level that has always been associated with periods of increased market participation. 

The six-month chart shows that the metric has held largely between 100,000 and 180,000 since October 2025, with periodic spikes above the upper threshold. The timing matters because the surge arrives in a period where price action has been relatively unstable in terms of bullish momentum.

What this means is that the spike in active addresses is not based purely on a breakout rally. Instead, it points to usage of the Ledger picking up independently, whether through transfers, exchange flows, or institutional-related activity on the network.

At the same time, transaction throughput has reached a milestone of its own. The XRP Ledger recently recorded over 4 million successful transactions in a single day for the first time in over two years, reaching as high as 4.49 million transactions on April 2.

The chart shows a steady climb in transaction activity since late December, with higher highs forming into February and March. Even when pullbacks occurred, the baseline level of transactions remained above 2 million, which is another sign of sustained usage and activity on the Ledger. That persistence in activity ties in with the network recently surpassing 7.7 million non-empty wallets for the first time in its 13-plus year history.

Will Price Catch Up To The Surge In Network Activity?

The current disconnect between on-chain strength and price performance is very glaring. Increases in active addresses and transaction counts have sometimes preceded larger price moves, but the relationship is not always immediate.

XRP has not closed a monthly candle in the green since September 2025, with six consecutive red months bringing the price to $1.31 and approaching another support at $1.28. Billions of dollars worth of XRP have also left exchanges in recent weeks, with a notable example being $11.4 billion worth of XRP leaving Binance.

Although activity alone does not guarantee a rally, what is clear, however, is that XRP is no longer dealing with weak on-chain fundamentals. The network is active, growing, and processing huge numbers of daily transactions, and this usage could translate into price growth in the coming weeks and months.

Ethereum is trying to hold $2,000. The market is coiling for a significant move. And the organization that has been selling this asset for months has just changed what it is doing with its ETH.

Data from Arkham Intelligence has confirmed a behavioral shift at the Ethereum Foundation that the market has been waiting for without knowing it was waiting: the Foundation has stopped selling ETH and has started staking it. That sentence requires context to carry its full weight.

For much of the past several months, the Ethereum Foundation’s periodic ETH sales represented one of the most psychologically damaging overhangs in the market. Each confirmed sell transaction from the Foundation’s wallets arrived as a signal from the inside — the organization that created Ethereum, that understands its technology more deeply than any outside participant, choosing to convert its holdings into cash. The market interpreted those sales as institutional doubt expressed in the most credible possible form. Price suffered accordingly.

That chapter appears to be closing. Staking is the opposite of selling in every meaningful sense. It is locking, committing, removing from circulation, and earning yield on the conviction that Ethereum’s future justifies the commitment. The Foundation is no longer exiting. It is embedding itself deeper.

This Is No Longer a One-Time Decision

Arkham’s on-chain data documents the specific transaction that makes the behavioral shift concrete: the Ethereum Foundation has staked an additional $46.64 million in ETH, bringing its total staked position to $96.59 million. That cumulative figure is the number that matters most — not because of its size relative to the Foundation’s total treasury, but because of what it represents as a repeated, deliberate, escalating commitment.

A single staking transaction can be dismissed as treasury optimization. Two transactions totaling nearly $100 million cannot. The Foundation has now made the same decision twice, in the same direction, at a price level that the broader market has treated as fragile support. Each transaction is a vote. The second vote confirms the first was not an anomaly.

The supply consequence is direct and permanent for the duration of the stake. $96.59 million in ETH now sits in staking contracts — unavailable for sale, removed from the liquid float, contributing nothing to the sell-side pressure that has weighed on the $2,000 level for weeks. The Foundation’s previous selling added to that pressure. Its current staking position actively reduces it.

The organization that built Ethereum has now committed nearly $100 million to its own protocol at exactly the moment the market is deciding whether $2,000 holds. That timing is not incidental. It is a statement.

Related Reading: $410 Million In Bitcoin Losses Realized In A Week. Two Key Indicators Say the Stress Is Not Over Yet

Ethereum Tests Long-Term Support as Weekly Structure Weakens

Ethereum’s weekly structure shows a market at an inflection point, not in a confirmed breakdown. Price is currently holding near $2,060, sitting just above the 200-week moving average — a level that has historically acted as a long-term trend boundary. That positioning matters. Unlike lower timeframes, this is where structural bull and bear regimes are defined.

The rejection from the $4,000–$4,500 region established a clear lower high, breaking the sequence of higher highs that defined the prior expansion phase. Since then, Ethereum has retraced sharply, losing the 50-week and 100-week moving averages, both of which are now flattening and beginning to roll over. That shift signals weakening momentum, but not yet a completed trend reversal.

The key issue is follow-through. The recent bounce off sub-$2,000 levels has not been strong enough to reclaim the 100-week average decisively. Without that, price remains vulnerable to another test of the 200-week level.

Volume does not show aggressive accumulation at current levels. That absence raises a question: is this a structural defense or a temporary pause?

If $2,000 fails on a weekly basis, the next meaningful support sits significantly lower. If it holds, Ethereum remains in a contested but still salvageable long-term structure.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Ripple’s XRP Ledger and SWIFT are gaining serious attention in the cryptocurrency and financial sector following recent speculations about both parties. While SWIFT remains one of the leading payment firms in the world, rumors are that the company might be supported by XRPL infrastructure.

SWIFT Might Be Integrating XRP Ledger Infrastructure

SWIFT, an open global standard for financial information, is now in the spotlight as speculations are starting to swell across the market regarding the company’s inner workings. This is centered around a possible integration or relationship between SWIFT and the XRP Ledger (XRPL).

Over time, SWIFT has been hailed for its fast processing time and execution, but some analysts are starting to suggest the possibility of the XRP Ledger currently playing a role behind the scenes. Pumpius, a crypto commentator, highlighted on X that SWIFT could be secretly using the Ledger at the backend.

Even though no formal confirmation has been made, the notion that a major traditional financial messaging company might covertly access blockchain technology underscores the notable growth of the blockchain sector. The multiple partnerships between big financial institutions and Ripple Labs are reinforcing this rumor.

According to Pumpius, 36 out of the 50+ banks on SWIFT’s new retail cross-border payments list are already in partnership with leading payment firm Ripple. In addition, SWIFT has recently made announcements regarding Ripple Treasury as an official part of its Certified Partner Program.

As outlined by City of London banker Lord Belgrave in a strategy meeting with major banks, Ripple and the XRP Ledger were freely discussed as powering the underlying tech for cross-border payments of the next generation.

SWIFT’s frontend, which handles the customer interface, branding, and compliance, remains with each respective bank or financial institution. However, the backend is allegedly anchored on the Ledger, which is believed to be doing all the heavy tasks behind the scenes. If such a link were to exist, it might represent a major advancement in the merging of decentralized technology with legacy finance.

Pumpius stated that this architecture has been quietly building underneath the surface for years, but the recent announcement from SWIFT brought it to the notice of the public and the crypto sector. 

The Token To Take Over Global Finance

With a growing role in finance, Pumpius has shared a few key points from Ripple CTO Emeritus David Schwartz on why XRP will take over global finance and outpace stablecoins. As the sector evolves, the CTO claims that banks will choose XRP over stablecoins.

One of the reasons is that stablecoins are stable to one currency, futile for global deals across borders. Also, issuers like court orders and politics can freeze or seize them anytime. Lastly, unlike stablecoins, XRP’s price can grow and offer investors real upside potential.

The altcoin is purely decentralized, offers lightning-fast atomic settlement, and has near-zero fees. Other key factors include liquidity sourcing and bridge asset design, high scalability and energy efficiency, escrow functionality, etc. In search of true freedom, speed, and future value in the sector, the altcoin is one of the best bets.

The Dogecoin (DOGE) price has been in a prolonged downtrend for months, basically mirroring Bitcoin’s decline and showing no signs of a sustained recovery or uptrend. However, a crypto analyst has suggested that this might change soon. The analyst has identified a critical sell wall on the Dogecoin chart that, if broken, could trigger a major trend shift and provide enough momentum for the meme coin to pump higher. 

Dogecoin Could Rally If Sell Wall Breaks

Crypto market analyst CW has highlighted a major sell wall around the $0.09 that could determine Dogecoin’s next bullish move. In an X post on Wednesday, the analyst noted that Dogecoin is already preparing to break through this key area, as its price tests $0.09 and holds this support level firmly. 

According to the analyst, if DOGE can push past this current support zone with strength, there may be no other resistance level strong enough to hold the meme coin until around $1.12. This means that CW expects the DOGE price to rise quickly toward this new high, representing a staggering increase of more than 1,144% from $0.09.  

The market expert noted that this price surge could come with a bullish trend reversal, likely confirming the end of Dogecoin’s prolonged downtrend. Notably, the analyst’s chart shows that the meme coin has been trading sideways within a descending channel since its price surge in September 2025. 

After rallying above the $0.25 area, Dogecoin has moved downward, previously crashing to this same critical support zone around $0.09 during the devastating October 2025 liquidation event. Although the meme coin rose back to normal levels, it remained range-bound inside this descending channel. With price showing strong breakout signals, CW has stated that once Dogecoin rises above this channel, its next major uptrend could begin in days. 

DOGE Breakdown Remains The Less Likely Scenario

In a separate X post, market analyst Osemka shared a price chart showing Dogecoin hovering around $0.09. He noted that the meme coin is currently trading in a tight range, with the price stuck between support and resistance. According to him, this behavior cannot last forever, suggesting that the DOGE price could soon make a strong move either upward or downward to break the critical area. 

Based on his chart analysis, Osemka appears cautiously bullish on Dogecoin. He said it would be a “little miracle” for Dogecoin to break downward, suggesting the more likely scenario is a strong rise above $0.09 soon. If this happens, it could completely invalidate DOGE’s bearish outlook and possibly trigger its next trend shift to the upside. 

As of now, the market is cautiously watching as DOGE trades around $0.091 at the time of writing, still trapped below both the Exponential Moving Average (EMA) and the descending channel.

Bitcoin is struggling to hold above $70,000. Days of trying to defend $65,000 have given way to a fragile recovery that the market does not yet trust. A top CryptoQuant analyst has identified the structural reason why — and it has nothing to do with sentiment, ETF flows, or macroeconomic headlines.

The culprit is in the mining data. A CryptoQuant analysis examining the relationship between Miner Selling Power and Bitcoin’s price has identified a decoupling that began in the second half of 2025 and has been widening ever since. Historically, the two indicators moved in correlation — when Bitcoin price rose, miners’ selling power declined as profitability improved, and vice versa. That relationship has broken down entirely.

What the chart now shows is a divergence that runs in the wrong direction: Miner Selling Power is sharply rising while Bitcoin’s price falls. The miners who are supposed to benefit from a recovery are instead increasing their selling activity into weakness. That is not profit-taking. That is survival.

The connection to the stagnant hashrate data is direct and confirming. Miners are not expanding. They are not holding. They are selling — not because the market is giving them a reason to, but because the alternative is shutting down.

This Is Not Capitulation. It Is Something More Dangerous

The report’s conclusion reframes what is happening in the mining industry in a way that changes how the current Bitcoin market should be read. The word capitulation implies a single event — a moment of peak pain where the last forced sellers exit simultaneously, clearing the market and establishing a floor. What the Miner Selling Power data describes is not that. It is a continuous, sustained, survival-driven unloading that has no defined endpoint because its trigger is not sentiment — it is the ongoing gap between operating costs and revenue.

Miners facing a harsh profitability winter do not sell because they have lost conviction in Bitcoin. They sell because electricity bills, hardware maintenance, and facility costs arrive on a schedule that the Bitcoin price does not respect. Every week that production costs exceed mining revenue is another week of forced selling — regardless of where price stands, regardless of what the chart suggests, regardless of what the broader market is doing.

That persistence is what makes the current overhead so structurally significant. It is not a wall of supply waiting for the right price to clear. It is a drip of forced selling that the market must absorb continuously before any sustained upside can develop.

The analyst’s forward position is stated without ambiguity: upside potential remains limited until these survival-driven sell-offs are fully absorbed. Until that absorption is confirmed in the data, the conservative perspective is not caution — it is the only analytically defensible posture available.

Bitcoin Stalls Below Resistance as Downtrend Persists

Bitcoin is trading near $66,800, continuing to consolidate after the sharp February breakdown that disrupted its prior bullish structure. The chart shows a clear shift in trend, with price moving from a series of higher highs into a pattern of lower highs and lower lows, confirming sustained bearish pressure.

Following the capitulation event — marked by a significant spike in volume — BTC entered a range between approximately $62,000 and $72,000. Since then, price action has remained contained within this zone, but with a noticeable bias toward the lower end, suggesting weakening demand.

The 50-day and 100-day moving averages are both trending downward above price, acting as dynamic resistance and limiting any recovery attempts. The 200-day moving average remains far above current levels, reinforcing the broader structural shift from expansion to correction.

Recent rallies toward the $70,000–$72,000 region have consistently failed, producing lower highs and indicating that sellers are still active on strength. Volume has declined during consolidation, pointing to reduced participation and a lack of strong conviction from buyers.

Unless Bitcoin can reclaim key moving averages and break above range resistance with strength, the current structure favors continued consolidation or a potential move lower toward support.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com 

Bitcoin demand is taking a crucial turn in a market hampered by ongoing negative macroeconomic and political events across the globe.  A recent report has outlined an increasing interest and demand for the leading cryptocurrency asset among large companies, which has now significantly exceeded those produced by miners in the market.

More Bitcoin Is Absorbed Than Being Mined

While price direction has been uncertain and unstable for the past few weeks, a growing imbalance is starting to take shape in the Bitcoin market. This imbalance focuses on institutions’ interests in BTC compared to new coins being mined.

On the X platform, a crypto investor known as AltCryptoGems has shared that institutional demand for BTC is rising at a substantial rate despite current unfavorable market conditions. Currently, public companies are scooping up more BTC faster than the rate at which miners are producing new coins.

As it continues to expand, this dynamic is strengthening the scarcity narrative of the flagship asset and reducing the amount of liquidity that is available. Such an imbalance could play a crucial role or act as a catalyst for the asset’s next price move. When large institutions accumulate, it is typically a clear sign of conviction in the asset’s long-term prospects.

The recently concluded month of March saw a wave of accumulation from these big public firms. In the month alone, the expert revealed that these companies collectively added over 47,000 BTC valued at approximately $3.14 billion at current price levels, to their balance sheets. Leading the charge is Michael Saylor’s Strategy, amassing over 44,377 BTC out of the net acquisition.

When compared to the prior month, this is significantly higher, as it saw over 29,590 BTC being scooped up by public institutions. This shows that institutional interest and demand in BTC nearly doubled within a monthly period. As for Bitcoin mining, only 13,950 BTC were mined during the same period, indicating that demand is currently clouding new supply into the market. 

BTC Exchange Balance Is Drying Up Pretty Fast

Despite persistent sideways price action and ongoing volatility, the underlying sentiment toward Bitcoin is turning quite bullish. Investors on cryptocurrency exchanges are steadily taking out their BTC from these platforms. Market expert Leon Waidmann reported that BTC balance on cryptocurrency exchanges is not sitting at its lowest level since 2018. 

After a period of steady withdrawals, the total supply of BTC left on exchanges is only 14.6%. From 2019 to 2022, the balance dropped to the 16% to 18% range, and then gradually continued bleeding throughout 2022. Now, 8 years later, the percentage has dropped to 14.6% as of April 2026.

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency asset, has also witnessed a similar trend, with balances on exchanges now sitting at 11%, its lowest level in years. Both leading assets are at historic lows at the same time, making this period a crucial one for the market as it could notably shift sentiment.

Charles Schwab is preparing to offer clients direct access to cryptocurrencies, joining a growing group of traditional financial institutions that have moved into digital-asset services. 

The firm plans to roll out “Schwab Crypto” through its Premier Bank platform, enabling eligible customers to buy and sell Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) directly, according to disclosures on the company’s website.

Charles Schwab’s New Crypto Service 

Charles Schwab’s announcement makes clear that the new offering will not be open to everyone. The firm says not all applicants will qualify, and accounts will be available in every US state except New York and Louisiana. 

Company leadership has signaled a cautious, phased approach to the launch. CEO Rick Wurster told investors last month that Schwab will initially support only Bitcoin and Ethereum and is “extremely confident” in the technical work required to integrate crypto trading into its systems.

Charles Schwab’s CEO also described a staged rollout: the exchange will first test the platform internally with employees, then open access to a limited group of customers, and only after that offer the service broadly to its investor base. 

Launch Date And Fees Still Unknown

Until now, Charles Schwab investors seeking crypto exposure have had to rely on alternative products available through the broker. The firm already provides access to crypto exchange-traded products (ETPs), crypto-related equities, Bitcoin futures, and listed options tied to spot Bitcoin ETPs.

Schwab Crypto would, if launched as described, mark a move into direct custody-and-trading services for the two largest digital assets. A few details remain unsettled. Schwab has not yet disclosed the exact launch date or the final fee structure for Schwab Crypto. 

Those decisions could be influenced by recent market conditions: falling prices in the cryptocurrency market may prompt the firm to delay its public rollout until conditions stabilize or until its testing phases are complete.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

Crypto pundit Cryptoinsight has pointed to Google’s latest research on quantum computing, which discussed XRP. The report specifically highlighted the XRP Ledger and the network’s efforts to protect against quantum threats. 

Google’s Latest Quantum Research Report Discusses XRP

In an X post, Cryptoinsight highlighted Google’s research report, which discussed XRP and the XRPL’s quantum efforts. He also noted that Google’s claim that 2/3 of the short-dated U.S. treasury bills are on the Ledger, while the majority of the remaining are on the Ethereum network. 

In the quantum report, Google noted that the Ledger is among the networks conducting experimental and test deployments of post-quantum cryptography (PQC). The Ledger recently deployed post-quantum ML-DSA signatures on the testnet. The report also recognized how this was key as the Ledger provides “extensive support” for RWA tokenization. 

RWA.xyz data shows that the XRP Ledger currently ranks 8th in terms of RWA tokenization, with a total tokenized value of $1.9 billion. The network boasts an RWA count of 289. Google noted that networks like the XRPL, which provide protocol-level support for RWA tokenization, introduce new quantum vulnerabilities not present in Bitcoin and its derivatives. 

This is based on the account model and smart contracts that networks like the Ledger employ to support tokenization. Google indicated that this quantum risk will become more prevalent. This is because of financial developments, such as fiat-backed stablecoins and the tokenization of other RWAs, which are projected to significantly increase the pool of assets governed by smart contracts by 2030. 

Another Quantum Risk For The Ledger And Other Networks

Google noted that the XRP Ledger is among the protocols that make long-term exposure of quantum-vulnerable public keys inevitable. However, Ledger has an edge as Google noted that the network, alongside Algorand and TRON, supports native, protocol-level key rotation. The research report added that modern Ethereum, Solana, and Rootstock accounts are controlled by smart wallets and support key rotation, but that legacy accounts remain a lingering vulnerability. 

Google stated that the technical and social complexities of switching blockchains to post-quantum signature schemes indicate that the process will take years. However, they noted that this move cannot be delayed until the exact timeline and feasibility of constructing Cryptographically Relevant Quantum Computers (CRQCs) become completely clear. 

At the same time, the report noted that the complexities and challenges are feasible to overcome, as networks such as the Ledger, Algorand, and Solana have demonstrated by making “notable progress” in real-world adoption of post-quantum cryptography. The Ledger also recently integrated AI to help identify vulnerabilities in the cycle development. 

At the time of writing, the altcoin’s price is trading at around $1.31, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.