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Bitcoin eyes $76,800 ‘breakeven wall’ as macro tailwinds build

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Bitcoin Core maintainers face shake-up as Gloria Zhao revokes PGP key

Bitcoin hovers near $75k with on-chain data flagging $76,800 as key resistance, while Morgan Stanley’s cut‑price MSBT ETF pulls in $100m amid easing macro headwinds.

Summary

  • Bitcoin is trading near $75,000, with on-chain data flagging $76,800 as key resistance where short-term holders may take profits.
  • A new Morgan Stanley spot bitcoin fund has already attracted more than $100 million in inflows with a market‑low 0.14% fee, intensifying ETF fee competition.
  • Geopolitical tensions, a weaker dollar and lower U.S. yields are supporting BTC, even as Iran risk and energy prices keep inflation fears alive.

Bitcoin (BTC) is hovering around $75,000 as on-chain cost metrics cluster near $76,800, a level CoinDesk says could act as a major resistance where short-term holders begin to sell into strength. The analysis suggests that when BTC pushes into short-term holders’ realized price band, supply often spikes as investors “break even,” raising the odds of profit‑taking and a near‑term pause or pullback.

CoinDesk reports that market sentiment has been buoyed by news of an extended ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran, with the dollar sliding to a near six‑week low and U.S. Treasury yields drifting lower, a combination that typically supports risk assets and non‑yielding hedges such as bitcoin and gold. Gold has been rising alongside BTC, signaling what the outlet describes as a market trying to balance risk appetite with lingering demand for safe‑haven assets.finance.

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On-chain data tracked by firms such as CryptoQuant shows that as bitcoin approaches the $76,800 realized price for short-term holders, supply to exchanges tends to increase, echoing a pattern seen in earlier rallies where that band acted as a ceiling. A recent note highlighted hourly BTC inflows to exchanges jumping to roughly 11,000 BTC as price tested the mid‑$76,000s, the strongest pace since December, which historically has signaled mounting sell pressure at resistance zones.

At the same time, institutional demand remains firm. Morgan Stanley’s new MSBT spot bitcoin fund, listed on NYSE Arca with a 0.14% annual fee, has already drawn more than $100 million in inflows and is now the cheapest spot BTC ETF in the U.S. market, undercutting BlackRock’s IBIT at 0.25%. Unchained and other industry trackers reported MSBT logged about $34 million in first‑day net inflows and strong early volume, a sign that large advisors are actively rotating client flows into the bank’s in‑house product.

CoinDesk notes that the new inflows come as U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs collectively hold more than 1.2 million BTC, or over 6% of total supply, giving traditional finance vehicles an outsized role in marginal bitcoin demand. Meanwhile, the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports and Tehran’s threats to disrupt shipping in the Persian Gulf continue to cloud the global growth outlook, with knock‑on effects on energy prices and inflation expectations that could, in turn, influence central bank policy and risk sentiment toward crypto.

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In recent crypto.news coverage, analysts stressed that $68,000 remains a key downside “line of defense” for bitcoin, with the current range between that level and roughly $75,000 framed as the most consequential band of 2026 as macro, geopolitical and ETF flows collide. Other crypto.news articles have highlighted how short‑term holder behavior and realized price bands have repeatedly marked local tops and consolidation zones during this cycle, a dynamic now converging again around $76,800.

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South Korea to trial tokenized bank deposits for government operational spending

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South Korea to trial tokenized bank deposits for government operational spending

South Korea is moving toward a more transparent public ledger by testing tokenized deposits for day-to-day government spending in a new regulatory sandbox trial.

Summary

  • South Korea will launch a blockchain-based pilot in Sejong City to handle daily government operational spending through tokenized deposits.
  • The Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to replace traditional government credit cards with programmable digital payments that feature predefined limits on timing and usage categories.
  • The initiative targets a full rollout by the final quarter of 2026 and forms part of a strategy to digitize one-quarter of all treasury fund executions by 2030.

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), the government has selected a pilot project that uses blockchain-based deposits to handle operational expenses, with a full rollout scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026. 

This initiative will initially launch in Sejong City, replacing the current system where officials use government-issued credit and debit cards for official business. 

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Unlike traditional payments that rely on post-use reporting to catch errors, this digital framework allows authorities to pre-set spending conditions, such as specific time windows and permitted categories, to ensure funds are used exactly as intended.

These tokenized deposits act as digital versions of standard bank deposits held on a distributed ledger. Because they remain liabilities of participating commercial banks and operate within existing financial systems, they offer more stability than private stablecoins.

The MOEF confirmed that nine major banks—including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, and Hana—are participating in the experiment to issue and manage these tokens. This infrastructure effectively links the government’s Digital Budget and Accounting System (dBrain) with the blockchain, creating a traceable path for every won spent.

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By moving beyond one-off subsidies and into recurring operational costs, the ministry expects to see a significant reduction in the misuse of public funds and a decrease in settlement times.

The sandbox environment provides a legal carve-out for this trial, as current regulations typically mandate that such expenses be processed through specific physical cards. 

Moving to a programmable system allows for a level of oversight that traditional banking cannot match, potentially lowering transaction fees for small businesses receiving government payments by removing traditional card network intermediaries.

“The trial will serve as a basis for evaluating new payment and settlement methods, with potential implications for fiscal operations if the model proves viable,” the ministry stated.

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Integrating distributed ledger technology (DLT) aligns with a long-term strategy to digitize South Korea’s treasury. The MOEF previously disclosed a target to convert 25% of all treasury fund executions to digital currency by 2030. 

Success in Sejong City will likely lead to legislative updates intended to scale this model across all branches of the national government.

The initiative builds on a previous project launched in March involving the Environment Ministry and the Bank of Korea, which utilized tokenized deposits to manage 30 billion won in subsidies for electric vehicle charging stations.

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Houston Man Sentenced to 23 Years Over Fake Gold- and Art-Backed Crypto Scheme

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Houston Man Sentenced to 23 Years Over Fake Gold- and Art-Backed Crypto Scheme

A Texas man received a 23-year federal prison sentence for running a crypto scam. The fraud drained nearly 1,000 investors of more than $20 million through a sham asset-backed token.

Robert Dunlap, 55, of Houston, sold a digital asset called Meta-1 Coin from 2018 to 2023. Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois led the case.

How the Meta-1 Coin Crypto Scam worked

According to the press release, Dunlap built his pitch around fabricated reserves. He told investors that Meta-1 Coin was backed by up to $1 billion in art. The collection supposedly included works attributed to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, and others.

He also claimed roughly $44 billion in gold stood behind the token. An accounting firm had audited and certified the bullion, Dunlap falsely told buyers.

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“Defendant lied to investors for years telling them that he had created a safe investment for them. Over the years, defendant was unrepentant and his lies became bigger. Would-be criminals planning to engage in similar conduct need to know that such actions will be met with a serious repercussion that includes loss of one’s liberty for an extended period of time,” Assistant US Attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.

A federal jury convicted Dunlap on two counts of mail fraud in November 2025. US District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt handed down the 23-year sentence this week. She also ordered restitution for fraud victims, many of whom reported losing their life savings.

US Attorney Andrew S. Boutros and special agents from the FBI’s Chicago Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced the sentence. They received assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

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The post Houston Man Sentenced to 23 Years Over Fake Gold- and Art-Backed Crypto Scheme appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Ketman Project Identifies 100 North Korean IT Workers Working in Web3

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Ketman Project Identifies 100 North Korean IT Workers Working in Web3

The Ketman Project, funded by an Ethereum Foundation stipend, identified 100 North Korean IT workers and alerted about 53 projects employing DPRK operatives.

The Ethereum Foundation said it funded a six-month project that exposed 100 North Korean operatives who had infiltrated Web3 companies under fake identities.

The foundation on Thursday shared a recap of its ETH Rangers program, which was launched in late 2024 to provide “stipends for individuals doing public goods security work” within the ecosystem.

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One of the recipients used the capital to build the Ketman Project to focus on investigating “fake developers” embedded within crypto, particularly operatives from the People’s Republic of Korea.

During the six-month stipend period, the Ketman Project identified “100 different DPRK IT workers operating within Web3 organizations” and reached out to about 53 projects to alert them about having potentially employed active DPRK operatives.

“This work directly addresses one of the most pressing operational security threats facing the Ethereum ecosystem today,” the Ethereum Foundation said.

North Korean operatives have been plaguing the crypto sector, leading to billions worth of crypto stolen over the years. One of the highest-profile hacking groups from North Korea is known as the Lazarus Group.

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Ketman Project website articles on DPRK operatives. Source: Ketman Project

The Ethereum Foundation did not go into detail about how the Ketman Project was able to identify the DPRK operatives. However, the project’s website has an extensive range of articles explaining the types of “tactics, behaviors and operational patterns” the operatives deploy.

Related: CIA to integrate AI ‘co-workers’ to process intelligence, catch spies

They include technical red flags such as reusing avatars and profile metadata across multiple GitHub accounts, exposing unlinked email addresses during accidental screen sharing, and displaying default language settings, such as Russian, that contradict their claimed nationality.

Alongside identifying North Korean operatives, the Ketman Project also developed an open-source detection tool to identify suspicious GitHub activity and co-authored an industry-standard framework for identifying DPRK IT workers in partnership with blockchain-focused nonprofit organization the Security Alliance.

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