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Bitcoin Gets A Covert Signal As Bessent Walks Into PubKey DC
PubKey’s Washington, DC opening yesterday would normally be filed under Bitcoin culture: a BTC-centric bar and meetup space planting a flag a few blocks from the institutions that write and enforce US financial policy. Instead, the launch became a market-relevant moment after Galaxy Digital’s head of firmwide research Alex Thorn posted photos from the event that show US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent in attendance.
Is This The Hidden Bitcoin Bull Signal?Thorn shared a few photos and only wrote, “PUBKEY DC IS ON THE MAP.” While Bessent has not acknowledged the visit on his own X account, the lack of an official readout keeps the episode informal. But in Washington, informality from senior officials is often where the earliest signals live.
Bitcoin-aligned commentators read the presence as overtly constructive. Analyst MacroScope (@MacroScope17) observed, “The Treasury Secretary was at tonight’s opening of PubKey DC. In this type of market, signals like this don’t matter much. Eventually traders look back and realize it mattered.”
Strive chief investment officer Ben Werkman framed it as a hindsight moment in real time, saying, “Having the Secretary of the Treasury at the Pubkey DC launch seems like a moment I could easily look back on and say ‘wow, it was all so obvious’.” Thorn replied, “agreed this is unabashedly bullish,” while Nakamoto’s vice president of investor relations Steven Lubka wrote, “The Treasury Secretary of the United States is at Pubkey. This is the sign you have been waiting for.”
None of those posts constitute policy, but they reflect a shared interpretation: a sitting Treasury Secretary showing up at a Bitcoin venue in DC is not a neutral optic in a cycle where state posture toward BTC is being repriced globally.
PubKey already carries political symbolism. On September 18, 2024, Donald Trump visited PubKey in New York City, bought cheeseburgers, and paid in BTC, becoming the first US president to transact on-chain in public.
Still No Update On The US Strategic Bitcoin ReserveYet the bullish optic lands amid a notable policy vacuum. President Trump’s March 6, 2025 executive order created a US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, directing agencies to report their digital-asset holdings and transfer forfeited BTC into a reserve that “shall not be sold.”
The same order instructed Treasury and Commerce to develop “budget-neutral” strategies to acquire additional Bitcoin without new taxpayer cost. Those deadlines have passed without a public release of an audit of how much BTC the United States still controls from seizures, what portion is encumbered by restitution or legal claims, or how Treasury intends to operationalize any budget-neutral accumulation path.
Two weeks before the PubKey DC opening, Bessent surprised the community with an unusually direct Bitcoin endorsement on X: “17 years after the white paper, the Bitcoin network is still operational and more resilient than ever. Bitcoin never shuts down. @SenateDems could learn something from that.” The message, posted during a federal shutdown fight, was both partisan jab and institutional compliment, positioning BTC’s uptime as a governance benchmark. The PubKey appearance now extends that rhetorical posture into a physical one.
Put simply, Bessent at PubKey DC is bullish as a social signal, not as a confirmed policy pivot. It suggests that Bitcoin’s legitimacy inside the US fiscal establishment is deepening to the point where the Treasury Secretary can engage with BTC-native spaces without treating them as political risk. But until Treasury releases a full reserve accounting and clarifies whether any lawful budget-neutral acquisition route exists, the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve remains more intent than instrument. Markets can price symbolism quickly; they will ultimately need numbers.
At press time, BTC traded at $85,670
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Bitcoin Risk Appetite Fading, Finds Glassnode Report
A new Glassnode report has revealed that the Bitcoin Open Interest continues to decline, a sign demand from risk-taking futures cohorts is waning.
Bitcoin Futures Open Interest Has Shown No Signs Of Growth RecentlyIn its latest weekly report, on-chain analytics firm Glassnode has talked about the latest trend in the Bitcoin Open Interest. This indicator measures the total amount of BTC-related perpetual futures positions that are currently active on the various centralized derivatives exchanges.
When the value of this metric rises, it means investors are opening up fresh positions on the market. Generally, the amount of leverage present in the sector goes up when new positions appear, so this kind of trend can lead to more volatility for the asset.
On the other hand, the indicator registering a drop suggests positions in the market are going down, either due to investors pulling back on risk, or exchanges enforcing forceful liquidations. Either way, the reduced leverage can result in the coin acting in a more stable manner.
Now, here is a chart that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Open Interest over the past year:
As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Open Interest witnessed a huge plunge last month as the cryptocurrency’s price crash triggered a massive liquidation squeeze. Since then, the metric has continued to slide down as the BTC price has plummeted further.
The fact that the downtrend in the indicator has maintained implies that investors haven’t been opening new positions in place of the ones getting liquidated. “This absence of incremental leverage underscores a cautious stance among market participants and aligns with the broader theme of fading demand across risk-taking cohorts,” explained the report.
Bitcoin has faced another bearish blow in the past day, which has only unleashed a new wave of liquidations in the futures market. As the below table from CoinGlass shows, the cryptocurrency sector as a whole has observed $904 million in liquidations over the last 24 hours.
Prices across the market have dropped inside this window, so it makes sense that $690 million of these liquidations have come from the long contract holders alone.
In terms of the individual assets, Bitcoin and Ethereum have contributed the most toward the squeeze like usual, with $370 million and $235 million in contracts involved, respectively.
Solana has been the leader among the rest with $37 million in liquidations. Interestingly, while most of the market has dropped, SOL is among the few that still have a slight positive gain for the past day.
BTC PriceBitcoin has returned to the $86,900 level following its latest drop.
Bitcoin Falls Below $87,000: Expert Labels Drop As An ‘Engineered Collapse’
In the past week, Bitcoin has continued to record new daily lows, culminating in a nearly eight-month low of just under $86,500 on Thursday. Market expert Shanaka Anslem, however, offers a contrarian perspective, labeling the current downturn as an “engineered collapse” and presenting a bullish argument despite the prevailing bearish sentiment.
Technical Indicators Suggest Potential UpsideIn a recent post on X (formerly Twitter), Anslem stated that while mainstream media depicts the situation as a “crypto winter,” a significant and stealthy accumulation of Bitcoin is taking place underneath the surface turmoil. He outlines several indicators that support his viewpoint.
According to Anslem, Bitcoin’s correction of nearly 30% from all-time highs has triggered widespread panic selling. However, contrary to this atmosphere of fear, the data tells a different story.
Notably, 231 new whale wallets were created in November, indicating that fresh capital is flowing into the market rather than established wealth exiting it.
Furthermore, the Bitcoin network’s hash rate has reached all-time highs even as the price has dropped, a sign that miners are confident in future prospects and are investing in their infrastructure.
Additionally, he contends that there has been a notable acceleration in stablecoin inflows, with $70 billion in exchange-traded fund (ETF) infrastructure ready to absorb panic selling.
Funding rates have flipped negative for the first time since the accumulation phase commenced, suggesting that market conditions are aligning in favor of institutional investors.
“The math does not lie,” Anslem emphasized, referencing various technical indicators that collectively indicate potential upside. The Pi Cycle remains green, and none of the thirty historical signals indicating market tops have been triggered.
Meanwhile, the Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) ratio sits in mid-range territory, with on-chain metrics reflecting a classic mid-cycle shakeout.
Bitcoin Could Soar To $320,000 By Late 2026Anslem stated that this situation bears a striking resemblance to the market conditions in 2018, just before Bitcoin skyrocketed from $3,200 to $69,000. He argued that this time around, institutional infrastructure exists that wasn’t available back then.
He suggests that market participants have “artificially” thinned liquidity by 50%, triggering a cascade effect designed to maximize fear among retail investors.
The fear and greed index currently stands at 15, indicating extreme fear. Historically, such levels have marked significant buying opportunities for long-term investors.
Anslem projects that this setup could lead to historical rallies ranging from 150% to 400% as the market moves toward its cycles’ peaks, with targets set between $220,000 and $320,000 by late 2026.
The reality, he asserts, is that the post-Halving supply shock, coupled with increasing institutional demand, creates an asymmetric market setup. According to Anslem, while retail investors are selling off their positions in fear, institutional players are discreetly accumulating Bitcoin.
Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin OG Whales Sold More BTC in 2025 Than Any Other Cycle: Analyst
An analyst has revealed how 2025 has been the year of OG Bitcoin whales, with hands older than seven years spending more than ever before.
OG Bitcoin Whales Have Maintained A High Selling Baseline This YearIn a new post on X, Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards has talked about the trend in the Bitcoin distribution from the “OG whales.” These are the investors who have been holding onto their BTC since more than seven years ago, without having transferred or sold the tokens once.
Below is the chart shared by Edwards that shows how the spending from Bitcoin holders of this age has looked over the past decade.
As is visible in the graph, Bitcoin OG whales have shown several spending spikes of a significant scale in 2025 so far, with one spike being particularly massive. But even during low-spending phases, selling from 7+ years old investors has remained at a notable level.
This stands out in the red-shaded chart, which shows the OG whale distribution as a percentage of the cryptocurrency’s market cap. This metric has consistently registered a value higher than 0.05%, which is a historically high level. The analyst has noted that the recent trend reflects “more selling than any other Bitcoin cycle.”
One reason behind this cycle’s distribution outweighing previous cycles could simply be the fact that Bitcoin is only getting older with each cycle, so there is a bigger part of the asset’s history today that now qualifies for that 7-year cutoff.
As for why these investors have been selling, it’s possible that the bull run profits have been high enough for them to cash in. Something to keep in mind is that while entities with a long holding time are considered “resolute,” the same may not actually apply to these “OG” whales.
This is because when coins cross the 7-year threshold, there crops up a real possibility that they have reached their long age by being lost, rather than through high-conviction “HODLing.” The spending this year may simply be a result of lost addresses being rediscovered, either by the original investor or someone who happened to obtain the wallet keys.
That said, some of these investors waking up to sell now would indeed be stalwart diamond hands who were silently biding their time until now. In past cycles, Bitcoin usually hit a top when selling from these investors became extreme. Whether the same pattern will follow this time around only remains to be seen, but the latest bearish trajectory could be a hint.
BTC PriceBitcoin dropped under $89,000 on Wednesday, but it appears the coin has already bounced back as its price is now trading around $91,800.
Cayman Court Grants Core Foundation Injunction to Stop Maple Finance’s Bitcoin Product
A major legal showdown in the crypto world has taken a sharp turn after the Grand Court of the Cayman Islands granted Core Foundation an injunction blocking Maple Finance from launching syrupBTC, its upcoming Bitcoin yield product.
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The ruling marks a significant escalation in a dispute centered on allegations of breached confidentiality, violated exclusivity agreements, and improper handling of lender assets.
Court Sides With Core Amid Confidentiality and Exclusivity DisputeThe injunction comes after Core Foundation argued that Maple Finance misused confidential information and internal work developed during their joint creation of lstBTC, a liquid-staked Bitcoin product unveiled in early 2025.
According to filings, Core invested heavily in technical development, ecosystem support, and go-to-market efforts, helping Maple attract more than $150 million in Bitcoin from clients earlier this year.
Core claims that from mid-2025, Maple began building a competing offering, syrupBTC, while still drawing on Core’s funding, engineering resources, and proprietary insights. The two were bound by a 24-month exclusivity clause, which Core says Maple knowingly violated.
Justice Jalil Asif KC determined that there are “serious issues to be tried,” ruling that financial damages alone would be insufficient. The judge highlighted two key risks, Maple potentially shedding or dealing in CORE tokens and the competitive head start it would gain by launching syrupBTC ahead of arbitration.
As a result, Maple is now prohibited from launching or promoting the product and from handling CORE tokens without written approval from Core Foundation.
Lender Asset Concerns Raise Further QuestionsThe conflict intensified after Maple informed lenders of potential impairments affecting millions of dollars in Bitcoin held through the existing Bitcoin Yield program.
Core Foundation disputes Maple’s claim, noting that Maple previously assured lenders funds were held in bankruptcy-remote structures with licensed custodians, meaning assets should have remained segregated and fully retrievable.
Core argues the impairment announcement contradicts those assurances and raises broader concerns about Maple’s asset management practices. Maple, however, denies all allegations, insisting the dispute affects only a pilot program and asserting that its wider operations remain unaffected.
A Case With Industry-Wide ImplicationsBeyond the courtroom, this clash highlights the increasing sensitivity of co-development partnerships in the maturing DeFi ecosystem.
As liquid staking and tokenized Bitcoin products become more competitive, the injunction sets a powerful precedent on enforcing exclusivity, protecting intellectual property, and clarifying legal obligations within decentralized finance.
Related Reading: Bitwise CIO Anticipates Crypto ‘ETF Palooza’: Over 100 New Funds Expected To Launch In 2026
With arbitration still ahead, the outcome could reshape how future crypto collaborations are negotiated, and how far courts will go to protect shared innovation.
Cover image from ChatGPT, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview
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