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Криптоплатформа Bitrefill, позволяющая оплачивать товары и подарочные карты с помощью криптовалют, сообщила, что 1 марта стала жертвой хакерской атаки. Компания не раскрыла сумму ущерба, однако заявила, что покроет потери за счет собственного капитала.

This week has been quite bullish for the Bitcoin price as it has seen a momentous break above $70,000. Although this is bullish, there are still some reservations as to the performance of the digital asset and what it could mean for its future. To this end, Bitget research analyst Lacie Zhang shares views on what the BTC price is doing, outlining the major factors that are currently influencing its price and the broader crypto market.

Bitcoin Price At A Major Structural Level

In a statement shared with Bitcoinist, Bitget Research Analyst Lacie Zhang said there has been a convergence of the Bitcoin realized price and the MVRV. Taking into account the performance of past cycles, the analyst points out that this could mean that Bitcoin could be nearing the end of its bear market.

The convergence of these indicators in the past has previously happened toward the tail end of a bear market, and this time could be no different. Not only this, but it is also associated with long-term accumulation, a trend that has usually preceded the bottom of a bear market.

As Zhang further explains, this could mean that investors are now moving from speculative selling to patient capital deployment. This speaks to the long-term accumulation trend, usually as large investors begin to shift their stance. Other factors are the fact that Bitcoin ETF inflows continue to rise, showing confidence from institutional players.

With these factors all aligning at almost the same time for BTC, it could mean that a trend reversal is coming. However, there is still the possibility that the price continues to decline, especially given that the broader macro dynamics have not been clear.

For one, there are still geopolitical tensions, with the US-Iran war shaking the market earlier this month. Zhang also points to the relationship between the US dollar Index and oil prices, which are tightening liquidity conditions. In such a case, risk assets tend to suffer the most, as evidenced by the decline that Bitcoin has suffered.

Predicting where the Bitcoin price could be headed, Zhang explained that “In the short term, Bitcoin is likely to fluctuate between $68,000 and $84,000 as markets search for equilibrium, while Ethereum may trade in a $1,800 to $2,500 range, supported by continued ecosystem development and growing adoption across decentralized finance and tokenized asset infrastructure.”

В Красноярском крае сотрудник компании «Водоотведение» почти два года незаконно использовал служебные электросети для майнинга криптовалюты, нанеся предприятию ущерб более 1 млн рублей, сообщили в региональной прокуратуре.

Инфраструктурная компания Maestro запустила платформу Mezzamine — рынок кредитования в биткоинах. Проект ориентирован на крупных инвесторов и призван расширить возможности финансирования для майнинговых компаний.

Комиссия по торговле товарными фьючерсами США (CFTC) решила не применять санкции к компании Phantom Technologies, оператору криптокошелька Phantom, несмотря на отсутствие регистрации в качестве брокера.

PayPal has expanded access to its stablecoin PayPal USD (PYUSD) to 70 markets, allowing users worldwide to send, hold, and receive the token while enabling faster, lower-cost global transactions.

PayPal Expands PYUSD Across 70 Markets

On Tuesday, payments giant PayPal announced that its USD-pegged stablecoin, PYUSD, will be available to users in 70 markets worldwide following its expansion into 68 new countries this month.

The fintech launched the stablecoin in August 2023 after initially pausing development due to scrutiny of PayPal’s issuance partner, Paxos. That same year, PayPal received a subpoena from the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) related to its stablecoin.

As crypto regulation gained momentum and financial watchdogs loosened their grip under the Trump Administration, the Commission concluded its 16-month investigation into PYUSD without enforcement action in February 2025. Since then, PYUSD’s total market capitalization has reached $4.1 billion, a fivefold increase over the past year.

Previously, only customers in the US and the UK had access to the PYUSD. However, the latest expansion has made PYUSD available to users across multiple global regions, including Asia-Pacific, Europe, Latin America, and North America.

This includes Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Meanwhile, users in the remaining markets will have access to PYUSD in the coming weeks.

Users in the newly supported regions will be able to hold, send, and receive the stablecoin directly on their PayPal accounts, enabling faster settlement and lower cost than traditional payment methods.

Users will also be eligible to earn rewards on their stablecoin holdings, but rewards won’t be available to users in Singapore or the United Kingdom, the official announcement noted. Existing holders in the United States receive an annual 4% reward.

PayPal Eyes ‘More Inclusive, Global Commerce Ecosystem’

The payments giant affirmed that this geographical expansion marks a critical step in its stablecoin push to build “the liquidity, utility, and ubiquity of PYUSD necessary to create a more inclusive, global commerce ecosystem.”

While consumers and businesses worldwide are seeking faster, more seamless global transactions, the current system still incurs excessive charges and adheres to outdated timelines, May Zabaneh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Crypto at PayPal, noted, adding that the company is working to change that.

“Enabling PYUSD in users’ accounts across 70 markets gives people faster access to their funds, lower-cost ways to send money across borders, and a more direct path to participating in the global economy, and that is what drives commerce forward for everyone,” she affirmed in the official announcement.

“Now you’re really opening up not only access—especially in places where they need it most— but also cross-border transfers and volume, where the pain is felt so high,” Zabaneh also told Fortune.

The stablecoin was initially launched on Ethereum and later expanded to other networks, including Tron, Avalanche, Aptos, and Sei, through LayerZero in September. In addition, YouTube added a new payout option last December that allows US creators to receive earnings in PYUSD.

На мероприятии, организованном при участии Dash, обсудят как фундаментальные, так и прикладные аспекты privacy-tech и децентрализации: от разработки до анализа транзакций и внедрения криптографии в финтех.

Mastercard has announced an acquisition of stablecoins infrastructure firm BVNK, which was previously in talks with Coinbase over a $2 billion deal.

Mastercard Will Be Acquiring BVNK For Up To $1.8 Billion

As announced in a press release, Mastercard has reached a definitive agreement to acquire BVNK for up to $1.8 billion, including $300 million in contingent payments.

BVNK is an enterprise stablecoins infrastructure solutions provider that operates across more than 130 countries. Last year, the company was in discussion with cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase over a merger, but in November, the deal fell through.

Now, it would appear that Mastercard has been successful in obtaining a signature from the stablecoins infrastructure firm. “The deal further expands Mastercard’s end-to-end support of digital assets and value movement across currencies, rails and regions,” noted the press release.

In January, another major payments card provider, Visa, also formed a partnership with BVNK, seeking its expertise to enable stablecoin payments on the Visa Direct platform.

Mastercard is also eyeing an integration of its fiat rails with on-chain payments in this acquisition. Jorn Lambert, Mastercard Chief Product Officer, said:

This acquisition reinforces what we have always done, using innovation and technology to power economies and empower people. Adding on-chain rails to our network will support speed and programmability for virtually every type of transaction.

Stablecoins, which are cryptocurrencies tied to fiat currencies, have been gaining adoption around the world in recent years, owing to positive regulation like the United States’ GENIUS Act. “We expect that most financial institutions and fintechs will in time provide digital currency services, be it with stablecoins or tokenized deposits,” noted Lambert.

Mastercard’s transaction with BVNK is expected to close before the end of the year, but according to the statement, it’s subject to regulatory review and other customary closing conditions.

Jesse Hemson-Struthers, BVNK co-founder and CEO, said:

This deal brings together complementary capabilities to define and deliver the future of money. Together, we’re able to deliver an unprecedented infrastructure for digital currency-based financial services.

During 2024 and most of 2025, the stablecoin sector enjoyed a notable uptrend, with the combined market cap of these tokens ballooning in size. Since October, however, the slowdown in the wider cryptocurrency market has also affected the fiat-pegged coins, as data from DefiLlama shows.

From the chart, it’s visible that the stablecoin market cap has seen its growth stall in recent months. However, unlike the rest of the sector, these assets haven’t actually faced any drawdown, at least not yet. As such, stablecoins have still been holding up relatively well in the wider context.

Bitcoin Price

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $74,700, up nearly 7% over the past week.

On-chain data shows the total number of non-empty XRP addresses has set a new all-time high alongside a 5-week high in network activity.

XRP Total Amount Of Holders Is Sitting At A Fresh Record

As pointed out by on-chain analytics firm Santiment in a new post on X, XRP has set a new record in Total Amount Of Holders. This indicator measures, as its name suggests, the total number of addresses present on the network that are carrying a non-zero balance.

When the value of this metric rises, it can be a sign that investors are joining the network or old ones who had sold earlier are returning. The trend can also arise due to existing users creating fresh wallets for a purpose like privacy. In general, all of these factors can be assumed to simultaneously be at play whenever the Total Amount Of Holders goes up, so some net adoption of the asset could be considered to have occurred.

Now, here is the chart shared by Santiment that shows the trend in the XRP Total Amount Of Holders over the past month:

As displayed in the above graph, the XRP Total Amount Of Holders has followed an uptrend in recent weeks, implying that the cryptocurrency has been getting a steady stream of new users. Today, the indicator is sitting at a value above 7.7 million, which is a new record for the blockchain.

The Total Amount Of Holders isn’t the only indicator that has seen a rise for XRP recently. As the analytics firm has highlighted in the same chart, the Daily Active Addresses has just witnessed a spike. This metric tracks the daily total number of addresses that are participating in some kind of transaction activity on the network.

While the Total Amount Of Holders measures the pure number of users that exist on the blockchain, the Daily Active Addresses provides an estimate for the amount of them who are active in their participation.

Following the latest spike in the Daily Active Addresses, 46,767 addresses are making transactions on the XRP network, which is the highest level in about five weeks. The elevation in activity has appeared alongside a price surge for the cryptocurrency.

Sharp price action tends to attract attention to the network, so it may not be a surprise that this rise in the Daily Active Addresses took place. Generally, price moves like this are sustainable so long as they can continue to invite engagement from investors, so it only remains to be seen whether the indicator will also be elevated in the coming days.

XRP Price

XRP briefly touched the $1.6 level during its latest rally, but the coin has since cooled back down to $1.5.

Ripple has announced plans to expand operations in Brazil, South America’s largest economy, aiming to improve its digital asset services in the country and obtain a key license from Brazilian regulatory authorities. 

The company revealed that it is now the only provider in the region capable of addressing a comprehensive range of financial needs, including cross-border payments, digital asset custody, prime brokerage, and treasury management.

Ripple Prepares To Launch Custody Services

As part of its growth strategy, Ripple aims to apply for a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license with the Central Bank of Brazil (BCB), in accordance with the nation’s newly established virtual asset regulatory framework. 

“Latin America has always been a priority market for Ripple—not just for the size of the opportunity but also because Brazil has developed one of the most advanced and forward-thinking financial ecosystems worldwide,” stated Monica Long, President at Ripple. 

She emphasized that Ripple has spent years building the trust, licensing, and technological infrastructure necessary to thrive in regulated markets, and with the expansion of its platform, the firm is now equipped to meet the needs of institutions throughout the region.

Ripple has also showcased significant collaborations with major institutions utilizing its technology to address real-world challenges related to liquidity and payments. Notable partners include Brazil’s Banco Genial, Nomad, and Braza Bank.

Additionally, Ripple Custody is set to launch in Brazil, offering bank-grade security, real-time compliance features, and flexible deployment options for regulated institutions. 

Established following the firm’s acquisition of Metaco in 2023, Ripple Custody provides institutions with the infrastructure required to hold digital assets, as well as facilitate payments, trading, and tokenization workflows. 

The service is designed to support a wide array of hardware security module (HSM) providers and integrates with Chainalysis and Elliptic for real-time transaction monitoring, as well as enabling institutional staking across Proof-of-Stake (PoS) networks.

Tokenization Initiatives And RLUSD Expansion In Brazil

In Tuesday’s release, it was also stated that Brazil-based CRX, which specializes in tokenizing real-world assets (RWAs), is leveraging the XRP Ledger (XRPL) and Ripple Custody to issue and manage tokenized RWAs on a large scale, with approximately $100 million settled on blockchain. 

Similarly, Justoken, which has already tokenized over $1.7 billion in assets on the XRPL, plans to utilize the firm’s Custody tools to create institutional-grade infrastructure for natural resources tokenization in Latin America.

The company’s RLUSD stablecoin is reportedly gaining notable momentum in Latin America, where institutions are seeking trusted, regulated digital dollar options. 

Ripple disclosed that RLUSD is already being adopted by some of the largest exchanges and fintech companies in the country, including Mercado Bitcoin, Foxbit, Ripio, and Attrus. 

At the time of writing, Ripple’s associated cryptocurrency, XRP, was trading at $1.52, up 7% in the last week and 1% in the last 24 hours. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

A crypto analyst has revealed that Bitcoin (BTC) could be entering a cycle that looks very different from the one that led to the sharp 2022 downturn. The analyst’s chart review suggests that the current bull market is developing on a stronger foundation, reinforcing the possibility that future corrections may deviate from past cycle patterns.

Bitcoin Shows Deviation From 2022 Bear Cycle Patterns

According to a new technical analysis shared in an X post by pseudonymous analyst DorkChicken on March 14, Bitcoin is showing signs of a different market structure than the setup that led to the massive 2022 crash. The analyst explained that the current cycle is developing on stronger support levels, which could change the market’s trajectory and how it behaves during future corrections in the bear market. 

The analyst’s accompanying chart shows Bitcoin on the two-week timeframe, highlighting several large support or consolidation zones that formed across multiple market cycles. One zone formed after the 2018 cycle top, another developed during the 2021 bull market, and a new range appears to be forming in the current cycle near the 2024 to 2026 price area. 

DorkChicken pointed out that the 2022 bear market crash occurred after Bitcoin fell below $30,000, leaving very little historical support below. The analyst noted that at the time, because the structure below that level was “nothing but open air,” it exposed the market to a much deeper selloff.

In contrast, the current cycle shows a structure in which Bitcoin builds support step by step as the bull market progresses. The analyst’s chart suggests that instead of moving straight up and leaving gaps underneath, the price has been forming ranges that could act as support if the market corrects later in the cycle. 

DorkChicken noted that this difference in structure means that the present bull market is built on a stronger foundation than the one seen before the 2022 market crash. Because of this, he suggests that Bitcoin may not follow the same devastating bear market correction as it did in the last cycle. 

Analyst Asserts BTC Bears Are Done

Following its recovery above $70,000, Bitcoin is showing signs of strength, with analysts predicting another short-term upward move. According to crypto expert ‘Investor Jordan’ on X, Bitcoin’s current bear market may have ended after a recent breakout from a key short-term pattern.

The chart analysis suggests that bearish selling pressure is likely in its final stages after BTC’s price cleared an important support level around $74,000. Investor Jordan noted that this level had served as the last major line holding the range, and once BTC cleared it, the structure supporting its bearish outlook was no longer in place.  

The analyst noted that Bitcoin had previously traded within a Bull Flag formation on the four-hour timeframe. However, now this Bull Flag has broken out cleanly, with price moving above the upper boundary of the range. Following this breakout, Investor Jordan projects that Bitcoin could move to two main targets. The first is the unfilled Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) gap between $81,500 and $83,000, before a final run to reclaim the BMSB level above $84,000.  

Bitrefill, a Sweden-based crypto e-commerce platform, revealed on Tuesday that it fell victim to a cyberattack on March 1, 2026, carried out by suspected North Korean hackers linked to the notorious Lazarus group. 

The company released a post-mortem report detailing the breach, which resulted in drained funds and the exposure of a subset of user data.

18,500 Purchase Records Exposed

In a statement shared on social media platform X, Bitrefill explained that the attack exhibited several indicators consistent with previous incursions attributed to the North Korean Lazarus and Bluenoroff groups. 

The attack was initiated through a compromised employee laptop, from which legacy credentials were extracted. These credentials reportedly allowed the attackers to access sensitive data, including a snapshot containing crucial production secrets, ultimately leading to broader access within Bitrefill’s infrastructure, database, and wallets.

The cyberattack was first detected when the team noticed “suspicious purchasing patterns,” indicating that gift card inventories were being misused. As a result, some of the company’s hot wallets were compromised, with funds being redirected to wallets controlled by the attackers. 

Regarding customer data, Bitrefill emphasized that its investigation did not indicate that customers’ information was the primary target of the breach. 

The firm asserted there is no evidence suggesting the attackers accessed the entire database; rather, they executed a limited number of queries, likely in an attempt to probe the system for valuable data, including cryptocurrency and gift card inventories.

However, the company did confirm that the breach involved access to approximately 18,500 purchase records, which contained limited customer information such as email addresses, cryptocurrency payment addresses, and metadata including IP addresses. 

For around 1,000 purchases, customers had to provide names for specific products, and while this information is encrypted, the attackers may have accessed the encryption keys. 

Bitrefill Strengthens Cybersecurity Post-Attack

In response to the cyberattack, Bitrefill is enhancing its cybersecurity measures. This includes thorough reviews and penetration tests conducted by various external experts, and implementing their recommendations. 

The platform is also tightening internal access controls, improving logging and monitoring for quicker detection, and refining its incident response protocols alongside automated shutdown strategies.

Additionally, Bitrefill has been collaborating with top industry security experts, incident response teams, on-chain analysts, and law enforcement agencies to gain a deeper understanding of the breach and to implement measures that prevent future occurrences. 

In its statement, the firm clarified that operations are returning to normal. Payment processing, stock availability, and account functionalities are stabilizing. The Bitrefill team concluded:

Bitrefill was designed to limit the impact if something like this ever happened. Bitrefill remains well funded, has been profitable for several years and will absorb these losses from our operational capital… We will continue to do our best to continue deserving your trust.

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com

While its price action has been trending sideways over the past few weeks, Ethereum has been seeing robust network performance and adoption. Recent updates are showing that the ETH network is now at the forefront of tokenized assets as the sector experiences substantial growth.

Tokenized Asset Boom On The Ethereum Network

Tokenized assets are becoming the order of the day in the ever-evolving blockchain sector, with the Ethereum network turning up at the center of the development. As the market for tokenized assets keeps growing, Ethereum has remained the top blockchain network driving this quickly expanding industry.

Leon Waidmann, a market expert and head of research at Lisk, shared this development on X, which suggests that the leading network is witnessing a strong wave of demand and interest. Developers and institutions are rapidly using ETH’s well-established infrastructure and substantial liquidity for everything from tokenized real-world assets to blockchain-based financial instruments.

Looking at the chart, the Ethereum mainnet is clearly dominating the tokenized assets market, controlling more than 61% of the entire market share. The chart shows that the current value of tokenized assets settling on the ETH Layer 1 blockchain has reached approximately $200 billion.

After falling to about 50% during the multi-chain expansion phase, Ethereum’s share has been increasing since the middle of 2024. This dominance is a result of both the network’s strong ecosystem of decentralized apps and its early-mover advantage. 

Offering insights into why the tokenized market is climbing again, the expert claims that this is because when institutions tokenize real value, they often pick the chain with the deepest liquidity. Other things they look out for are the strongest security guarantees and the most battle-tested infrastructure, especially in a bear market. 

Has ETH’s Downward Trend Come To An End?

After a period of downward action, the price of Ethereum may be approaching the end of the bearish phase. Ali Martinez, a seasoned technical analyst, revealed that ETH just flashed a signal that the downward trend is potentially nearing its end. This implies that bearish momentum is gradually weakening, with buyers stepping back into the market.

Market indicators and shifting price structure are key indicators of the development. For the first time since September, the SupperTrend indicator has transitioned from Sell to Buy. The setup could spur an upward move, as observed in the last two scenarios, which triggered moves of 52% and 174%.

Currently, a major shift is developing under the surface. ETH has experienced a reclaim of the $2,200 level as support after a 39% decline below it. At the same time, demand has picked up pace, with ETFs accumulating over 83,000 ETH valued at roughly $193 million, in the last 3 weeks. Given that ETH has survived the volatile market conditions from September 2025 to March 2026, Martinez predicts that the next key levels to reclaim are $2,400 and $2,600.

The XRP Ledger has received a quiet but important update, as developers moved quickly to resolve a vulnerability that had the potential to affect server infrastructure on the network. A recent announcement revealed that Ripple released Rippled Version 3.1.2, which is a new update for the XRP Ledger server software.

The release of Rippled version 3.1.2 comes shortly after concerns came up around a newly introduced feature, which, in turn, led to a quick response in order to protect users of the XRP Ledger.

Ripple Patches Major Issue

According to the announcement from the XRP Ledger website, the issue traces back to the Batch amendment, a feature that was introduced to expand transaction capabilities on the XRP Ledger. Early implementation of the amendment exposed a flaw that could lead to unintended issues under certain edge conditions.

Developers identified that the security issues, in the worst-case scenario, could cause the servers to crash or restart. This placed added pressure on the XRP Ledger team to act quickly, and the fix was developed in collaboration with the team at RippleX. 

Keeping server infrastructure stable is important, especially as the XRP Ledger network continues to grow in both usage and complexity. Therefore, if Rippled users do not upgrade to the new version, they may continue to experience restarts or outages.

The latest patch is the third release in a rapid succession of updates that came from a significant bug discovered in Rippled 3.1.0. That original version introduced the XRPL Batch amendment, which contained a flaw severe enough to allow an attacker to execute inner transactions on behalf of arbitrary victim accounts without their private keys. 

The payment firm initially responded to that vulnerability with an emergency release of version 3.1.1, which marked both Batch and fixBatchInnerSigs as unsupported, preventing activation. 

CTO Responds As Debate Around XRP Sales Resurfaces

As Ripple moves to stabilize its network infrastructure, the company is also contending with questions over its XRP funding model. Particularly, Ripple CTO emeritus David Schwartz recently addressed criticism regarding the company’s XRP sales following comments on the social media platform X from crypto commentator Zach Rynes.

Crypto commentator Zach Rynes, known on X as @ChainLinkGod, questioned Ripple’s practice of selling XRP to fund operations. According to him, this arrangement of XRP purchases makes it so that retail investors indirectly subsidize the company’s corporate growth. This proposition led to a direct response from David Schwartz, who challenged the logic of the argument.

According to Schwartz, the logic behind the criticism does not apply. Going by that logic, one could just as easily claim that Ripple’s XRP sales actually benefit investors trying to profit from holding the token.

Michael Saylor says Bitcoin could emerge as one of the biggest winners if artificial intelligence compresses corporate “terminal value” and forces markets to stop paying up for long-dated growth. His argument came in response to Chamath Palihapitiya’s latest thought experiment, which framed AI not simply as a productivity engine, but as a force that could undermine the basic assumptions behind modern equity valuation.

Palihapitiya’s core thesis was stark. If AI makes disruption faster, cheaper, and more relentless, investors may no longer be willing to underwrite cash flows far into the future. In that world, equities would stop being valued as long-duration assets and instead trade closer to what they generate right now.

“The entire architecture of modern capital markets rests on a single, rarely examined assumption: that competitive advantages compound over time. Moats persist. Brands endure. Network effects defend,” Palihapitiya wrote. “Strip that assumption away, and you aren’t just repricing some stocks, you would be dismantling the philosophical foundation of how capital has been allocated for a century.”

He then pushed that logic through a valuation framework built around disruption risk. Using a US 10-year yield of roughly 4.5% as a starting point and an equity risk premium of 4% to 5%, Palihapitiya argued that a stable, durable business might justify a 10x to 12x free cash flow multiple. But once AI-driven obsolescence becomes a serious annual risk, those multiples fall fast. At a 20% annual disruption probability, he estimated fair value at about 3.9x FCF. At 30%, it drops to 2.8x. Even 10% only gets to roughly 6.5x.

That matters because, in his telling, markets have done this before. He pointed to newspapers after digital advertising, retailers facing Amazon, oil majors during the energy transition, and even New York taxi medallions after Uber. In each case, the market was not denying the existence of current cash flows. It was repricing how long those cash flows could realistically last.

Palihapitiya extended that argument to the broader market. With the S&P 500 valued at around $58 trillion and corporate free cash flow near $2.8 trillion annually, he argued that repricing the index at 5x FCF would imply a market value of about $14 trillion, or a 75% drawdown. Even a less severe compression would radically change how capital gets allocated.

Bitcoin Could Surge as AI Destroys Traditional Moats

Saylor’s response was brief and reiterated his previous public stance. “If AI compresses terminal value and makes every moat temporary, capital will rotate to assets with no disruption risk,” he wrote. “Bitcoin is Digital Capital – scarce, neutral, and impervious to AI disruption. $BTC should be the primary beneficiary of this shift.”

That exchange quickly turned to a familiar fault line in Bitcoin debates: quantum risk. Palihapitiya answered that Bitcoin “would need to be quantum resistant by then,” prompting Saylor to push back. “Your AI thesis assumes the digital world is quantum-resistant. If quantum breaks cryptography, it breaks AI, cloud infrastructure, banks, and the internet—not just Bitcoin. The entire stack upgrades together.”

Palihapitiya was unconvinced. “No. A store of value has to be 100% hacking resistant. It’s an existential feature,” he wrote. “For other industries it will be important but less binary/existential.”

Others in crypto added nuance. BitGo CEO Mike Belshe said both sides were partially right, arguing that Bitcoin is likely the “low-hanging fruit” for quantum attackers even if other systems would also be affected. He added: “It’s just too easy relative to other efforts. Similarly, Bitcoin also has the easiest job to be Quantum Resistant – it’s a clean solve technically, suffering only from lack of governance and decisiveness. The banking solution(s) to Quantum will be much harder with a much longer tail of work, but at least the centralized decision making is easier.”

Helius Labs CEO Mert Mumtaz made a similar distinction from another angle: “Those systems can detect, mitigate, and fix against a quantum threat infinitely faster than bitcoin in a non-messy way. That is the cost of decentralization. An EC2 machine getting hacked (won’t happen anyway) is nowhere near the severity of your entire financial getting drained.”

At press time, Bitcoin traded at $74,140.

A sudden rebound has shifted the market into a bullish state once again, and Bitcoin is slowly trending upward. As Bitcoin’s price momentum begins to recover, pushing it back into the $70,000 threshold, derivatives data indicate that the flagship asset is nearing a crucial point in the market structure. 

Bitcoin Encounters Dense Short Liquidity Wall

Following a slightly bullish move, Bitcoin is set to undergo a crucial phase, as it could serve as a key part in determining what comes next. Bitcoin’s price may be gradually rising, but the leading cryptocurrency asset has encountered dense short liquidity around a key price zone that holds major significance.

In a post on X, Milk Road, a macro investor and analyst, disclosed that this concentration of large short positions is currently sitting between the asset’s present price and the $76,300 level. Over $1 billion is being held at this level, creating a possible pressure zone for bearish investors and traders.

According to the expert, the bulls are aware that this massive liquidity is held up at that price range, which he calls the “liquidation wall” and the number the market has been circling. If BTC’s price crosses the $76,300 level, the notable short positions will automatically get closed out along the way.

After that, those closings become buy orders from investors, and robust buy orders typically push prices higher. Once prices have been moved upward, there will be more liquidations, which will eventually trigger a cascade. A market setup like this is how a short squeeze works, and it’s among the most erratic price moves in the cryptocurrency market.

This is due to the fact that the sellers are compelled to buy, not necessarily because the buyers are combative. When this finally occurs, Milk Road claims that those who bet and shorted BTC are in trouble, pointing to the $1 billion forced buys. This is not subtle; it is hitting the market at once.

Regardless of whether bulls purposefully raised prices to get closer to the squeeze zone or if there was enough organic buying to make it inevitable, the shorts remain trapped. Mlik Road highlighted that the $74,670 is the first major trip wire, holding $500 million of potential shorts liquidations alone. However, a clean break above the level and the market is expected to take action, with analysts targeting an $82,000 range as the next stop if the squeeze kicks off.

A Sign Of Liquidity Absorption

Amid current market conditions, a shift in dynamics is drawing attention around the sector. This shift is being observed in the Spot Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD) Bias. Crypto Banter Show’s host Kyle Doops reported that the metric has started to recover after a long stretch of pressure from the sell-side.

For a while, it seemed like sellers were hitting bids on every bounce. However, it is starting to look like buyers are reabsorbing liquidity, not just on one crypto exchange, but a few. Despite this, Kyle Doops suggests that investing in Bitcoin at this time is still considered early. Furthermore, demand might easily wane if it does not continue to manifest. Nonetheless, this is the first sign of stabilization that the market has seen in a while.

Crypto pundit Nick has explained that XRP holders are too focused on price rather than on the massive adoption the altcoin is seeing. He noted that these adoptions are stacking and would, at some point, serve as catalysts to send the altcoin to new highs. 

Pundit Says XRP Holders Are Missing The Adoption Wave

In an X post, Nick said that the majority of XRP holders are missing the adoption wave the altcoin is seeing and are focusing so much on the price. He noted that no matter how positive the news is, the token holders won’t be happy until they see the chart going up. The pundit added that they are missing the big point on why the chart is going up in the first place. 

Nick declared that he is extremely bullish even if the altcoin were to hit $1 or lower. He explained that they have watched the XRP Ledger experience upgrade after upgrade over the last few months. He added that amendments are being passed to enable institutional adoption, with one of the latest being the permissioned DEX. 

Furthermore, the pundit said that AI is being utilized with massive markets being tapped into. As such, he doesn’t see any reason why anyone could be bearish at this point. Nick assured that, at the end of the day, these positive developments are all pressure-cooking behind the scenes of negative price action. 

Nick said that XRP holders simply don’t realize that these positive developments stack up over time, eventually leading to a vertical price action. He added that the token will wake up soon and that it will be way bigger than the move from November 2024 to January 2025.

XRPL Sees Massive Adoption Boost

In an X post, on-chain analytics platform Santiment revealed that the XRP Ledger now has more than 7.7 million holders (non-empty wallets) for the first time in its 13+ year history, as its usage continues to grow. The platform added that the network closed yesterday with a 5-week high of 46,767 active addresses as price jumped 14% in the last 48 hours, rising above $1.60. 

XRP treasury company Evernorth earlier highlighted that the Ledger is seeing increased adoption, with transactions nearing 3 million daily as of last week. The transactions are up from 1 million daily in mid-2025, representing an increase of almost 300%. In line with this, the firm declared that price moves attract attention and that the network activity shows where adoption is growing as more financial assets move on-chain. 

Related Reading: Why The XRP Price Might Crash To $0.87 Before The Bear Market Ends

At the time of writing, the altcoin’s price is trading at around $1.53, up over 3% in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) on Tuesday issued joint guidance that clarifies how federal securities laws apply to many crypto assets, a move aimed at ending years of regulatory uncertainty. 

The agencies said the interpretation makes clear that the bulk of digital tokens are not securities, while laying out how certain transactions and token evolutions can bring them within, or remove them from, securities regulation.

Clarity After A Decade Of Crypto Uncertainty 

In the official release, the SEC framed the guidance as a milestone in its effort to provide clearer rules for market participants and to complement ongoing Congressional work to codify a comprehensive market-structure framework. 

“After more than a decade of uncertainty, this interpretation will provide market participants with a clear understanding of how the Commission treats crypto assets under federal securities laws,” SEC Chairman Paul S. Atkins said. 

Chair Atkins added that the interpretation recognizes something the previous administration did not fully acknowledge: most crypto assets are not securities. 

The guidance also acknowledges that investment-contract status can end — a point Atkins said will help entrepreneurs and investors while Congress advances bipartisan market-structure legislation (CLARITY Act).

The CFTC joined the SEC’s interpretation and signaled it will administer the Commodity Exchange Act in a manner consistent with the SEC’s approach. Together, the agencies provided a more detailed taxonomy to help classify digital assets and the activities that surround them.

Fresh Classification Framework

Key elements of the interpretation include a structured token taxonomy that separates digital commodities, digital collectibles, digital tools, stablecoins, and digital securities. 

This categorization is intended to reduce ambiguity about which regulatory regime applies to different types of tokens and, by extension, to the platforms and services that handle them.

The guidance also addresses the dynamic nature of token classification. It clarifies how a “non-security crypto asset” — defined as a crypto asset that is not itself a security — may become subject to securities rules, and how it may cease to be treated as an investment contract over time. 

The interpretation further explains how federal securities laws apply to airdrops, protocol mining, protocol staking, and the practice of “wrapping” a non-security crypto asset. The statement concludes:

Market participants—from innovators and issuers to individual investors—should review this interpretation to better understand the regulatory jurisdiction between the SEC and CFTC. The interpretation will be published on SEC.gov and in the Federal Register. 

Featured image from OpenArt, chart from TradingView.com 

Bitmine Immersion Technologies has been buying Ether steadily and has pushed its holdings to roughly 4.5 million tokens, a position that makes the firm one of the largest corporate holders on record.

According to reports, the latest disclosed move included an over-the-counter purchase of 5,000 ETH from the Ethereum Foundation, a sale arranged off-exchange to avoid pressuring public markets. The deal is small compared with the company’s total hoard, but it underscores an ongoing accumulation plan.

Bitmine Staked Most Of Its Holdings

Reports indicate that Bitmine added nearly 61,000 ETH in a single week, marking a notable acceleration in its purchase pace. The weekly bump is bigger compared to the company’s recent averages and highlights its more aggressive accumulation strategy. Combined with its existing holdings, the new ETH pushes Bitmine closer to controlling 4.6 million tokens in total.

The bulk of that altcoin is not sitting idle. Reports indicate the company has staked about 3 million ETH — roughly 60% of its stash — and is expanding its validator infrastructure under a project named MAVAN.

Staking turns a crypto treasury into a yield-producing asset. It also ties value up; staked ETH is more constrained than liquid balances. Bitmine’s public filings show the firm expects staking to deliver steady revenue while it holds onto the coin for the long run.

Shares Reacted Quickly

Investors took notice. Data shows Bitmine’s stock climbed nearly 12% on the day the purchase was disclosed. Traders and analysts pointed to the company’s aggressive accumulation and staking strategy as the main catalyst for the move.

That reaction signals that the market values companies that can both accumulate large positions and extract yield from them.

Infrastructure Push

Bitmine plans to build out MAVAN to control more of its staking stack and to capture fees that go to validators. Officials said the goal is to reduce reliance on third-party validators and to scale operations so staking rewards feed the company’s bottom line.

Expanding a private validator network can improve operational margins, but it also concentrates control of staked validator seats under one operator.

Risk And Centralization Questions

Holding nearly 4.6 million ETH raises questions beyond returns. Data shows a single corporate holder with a multi-million ETH position increases the visibility of that holder to markets and to the community.

Large, concentrated positions can amplify price swings if the holder moves to liquidate. They can also prompt debate about how concentrated staking power should be within a single entity.

Bitmine’s path now depends on price action and on how quickly it can scale MAVAN. Reports suggest it aims for further purchases down the road and for higher staking rates, but those plans carry trade-offs: more yield and more income, versus higher exposure to ETH price swings and governance scrutiny.

For now, investors are willing to pay up for the story — the stock jump shows that — and observers in the crypto world will be watching whether other firms follow with similar accumulation and staking strategies.

Featured image from YouHodler, chart from TradingView

Bitcoin is trading firmly above the $70,000 level and has recently tested the $76,000 region, signaling renewed momentum as activity across the cryptocurrency market intensifies. The move higher suggests that buyers are gradually regaining control after a period of volatility, with traders closely watching whether the current rally can sustain itself as macroeconomic uncertainty continues to shape global markets.

According to a recent CryptoQuant report, Bitcoin has shown a notable degree of resilience despite escalating geopolitical tensions involving Iran, an environment that has contributed to growing instability across several traditional asset classes. In contrast to Bitcoin’s recent strength, both equities and commodities are beginning to exhibit market structures that analysts increasingly describe as potentially topping formations.

This resilience is particularly striking given the broader macro backdrop. The upcoming Federal Reserve FOMC meeting is widely expected to deliver no change in interest rates, with market probabilities currently indicating roughly a 99% chance that policy will remain unchanged. Instead, investors are expected to focus primarily on the Fed’s forward guidance, especially whether policymakers begin to reopen the discussion around the possibility of future rate hikes.

Despite these headwinds, several on-chain and market signals suggest that Bitcoin’s underlying demand dynamics may be beginning to improve.

Buyer Activity Returns to Bitcoin Spot Markets

According to CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost, recent data from the Bitcoin Spot Net Volume Delta chart suggests that market dynamics are gradually shifting back in favor of buyers. The indicator, which tracks the difference between aggressive buying and selling volume in spot markets, shows that demand is slowly returning on major exchanges such as Binance and Coinbase.

While the change remains relatively modest, it represents a clear improvement compared to the market conditions observed in February, when selling pressure dominated both retail and institutional flows. At that time, the 30-day moving average volume delta was deeply negative, reaching approximately -$145 million on Binance and -$88 million on Coinbase. These readings indicated that most participants were actively selling, reinforcing the broader market weakness seen during that period.

More recently, however, the trend has begun to reverse. The same 30-day averages have now moved back into positive territory, with the delta standing around +$21 million on Binance and +$14 million on Coinbase. This shift suggests that buyers are gradually regaining influence within the spot market.

Even so, Darkfost notes that the signal still requires confirmation. Market liquidity remains relatively thin, meaning that sustained demand will be necessary to solidify the recovery.

If this buyer-driven dynamic continues to strengthen, it could eventually support a breakout from Bitcoin’s current consolidation range.

Bitcoin Tests Resistance After Sharp Recovery From February Lows

The weekly Bitcoin chart shows the asset recovering momentum after the sharp correction that unfolded earlier in 2026. BTC is currently trading around $73,700, following a strong rebound from the February lows near the $63,000–$65,000 region, where buyers stepped in and triggered a rapid recovery.

That decline represented one of the most significant pullbacks of the current cycle, briefly pushing price below key short-term moving averages and triggering a wave of liquidations. However, the market quickly stabilized as demand reappeared, allowing Bitcoin to reclaim the $70,000 level and test the $76,000 resistance zone during the latest weekly candle.

From a structural perspective, Bitcoin remains within a broader bullish market framework, as price continues to trade above the 200-week moving average, which historically acts as a long-term support level for the asset. At the same time, BTC is now approaching the 100-week moving average, a level that could act as dynamic resistance in the short term.

The $74,000–$76,000 range, therefore, represents a critical resistance area. A sustained breakout above this zone could open the door for a continuation toward the $85,000 and $93,000 levels, where previous consolidation and liquidity clusters exist.

If Bitcoin fails to break through resistance, the market may enter a consolidation phase between $70,000 and $76,000 as traders reassess momentum.

Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com