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Why Bitcoin Crashed Over 10% in One Week

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the-defiant

Despite BTC’s rebound from a brief dip to $60,000, retail investor sentiment remains firmly in the “extreme fear” zone.

The crypto market went through another round of wild swings in early February after Bitcoin suddenly plunged to the low-$60,000s in just a few hours on Feb. 5, dragging the rest of the market down with it, before bouncing back to near $70,000.

As of Monday morning, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap is trading around $68,860, down 3.2% in the past 24-hours and almost 12% over the past seven days.

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Bitcoin price vs. crypto liquidations as of early February. Source: Coinglass

Data from Coinglass shows more than $2 billion in leveraged crypto positions were liquidated in that short window on Thursday, mostly made up of long bets forced to close as prices fell. That wave of automatic selling pushed the slide further than fundamentals alone would suggest.

Jeff Park, a Bitwise portfolio manager, suggested on X on Thursday evening that a lot of the indiscriminate selling seemed to come from multi-strategy hedge funds running delta-hedged trades “possibly with growth equity correlations spillovers.”

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Hello from Hong Kong

Parker White, chief investment officer at DeFi Development Corporation, wrote in an X post several hours after Park that the market crash was probably triggered by the sudden collapse of Hong Kong hedge funds, as The Defiant previously reported.

Those funds held call options in IBIT, BlackRock’s spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund and one of the largest in the market, which saw about $10.7 billion in trading that day — nearly double its previous record — with roughly $900 million in options premiums changing hands.

White suggested that Asia-based hedge funds had run a leveraged IBIT options trade funded in yen, added more leverage after losses, got hit by funding costs and silver trades, and then the final Bitcoin move triggered the collapse.

“We know that Asian traders, particularly in China, have been deeply involved in the Silver and Gold trade. Silver was down 20% today, which was the 2nd largest 1 day move in a very long time (largest on Jan 30). We also know that the JPY carry trade has been unwinding at an increasingly rapid pace,” White wrote.

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But if the liquidation actually happened, it won’t show up in 13F filings — quarterly reports that disclose institutional holdings — until 45 days after the quarter ends, so mid‑May is the earliest the full picture could emerge.

Tanisha Katara, founder of Katara Consulting Group, echoed the sentiment, noting in commentary for The Defiant that institutional products like ETFs can accelerate both rallies and sell-offs.

She noted that U.S. spot Bitcoin ETFs, which provide streamlined access to the crypto market for large financial players, are now also net sellers, showing that having a way in doesn’t guarantee long-term commitment. Katara told The Defiant:

“The digital gold narrative has been conclusively debunked by this cycle. Like Gold is up 72% while Bitcoin is down 28% over the same period. What’s left is the infrastructure thesis: stablecoins, tokenisation, DeFi primitives, governance systems, and programmable money.”

Adding to the chaos, South Korea’s Bithumb mistakenly gave away thousands of BTC during a promotion, briefly sparking heavy local selling, though the exact amount of dumped tokens remains unclear.

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As The Defiant reported earlier, users rushed to cash out their accidentally airdropped BTC and offramp funds, briefly sending the price of Bitcoin on Bithumb almost 18% below market price across other exchanges globally.

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BTC/KRW on Bithumb amid an accidental giveaway. Source: LookOnchain

The mishap already prompted South Korea’s Financial Supervisory Service to warn it will tighten oversight and impose tougher penalties on financial firms.

Further Declines Ahead

As crypto struggles, other global risk assets are also unstable. Kyle Rodda, senior financial market analyst at Capital.com, explained in commentary shared with The Defiant that “everything is the one trade in the markets right now,” with fundamentals acting more as triggers than as main drivers of daily swings.

“The week ahead will also be dominated by U.S. data, with a batch of inflation figures and Non-Farm Payrolls data released in coming days after the latter was delayed by the partial US Government shutdown. The narrative is less pronounced given the resilience of U.S. economic activity recently, but the markets continue to try and balance signs of a sluggish labour market with sticky prices,” Rodda added.

Georgii Verbitskii, founder of crypto investment app TYMIO, told The Defiant that the sell-off also reflected long-term holders trimming exposure. He noted that Bitcoin’s inflation-hedge narrative was being questioned short-term, and predicted that the market would likely go lower:

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“At this point, I don’t see strong catalysts for the upside. Most likely, Bitcoin will spend some time ranging between $55,000 and $67,000, possibly slightly higher. Looking further out, a deeper move toward the low $40,000s can’t be ruled out over the course of the year — especially given that 2026 is shaping up to be a challenging period across global markets.”

Speaking with The Defiant, Ryan Li, CEO of Surf, an AI tool built for crypto, pointed out that sentiment among retail investors is “extremely low right now, firmly in ‘extreme fear’ territory and on par with the November lows.”

Data from the Greed & Fear Index shows that even with Bitcoin bouncing back to $70,000 over the past 24 hours, investors are indeed still stuck in “extreme fear.”

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Paradigm builds pro-grade prediction market terminal for institutional traders

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Paradigm builds pro-grade prediction market terminal for institutional traders

Paradigm is building a pro‑grade prediction market terminal, eyeing an internal MM unit and S&P‑style index product as Kalshi’s valuation jumps to $22B on surging volumes.

Paradigm is building a dedicated prediction market trading terminal aimed squarely at professional traders and market makers, in one of the clearest signs yet that real‑money event markets are being treated as an emerging asset class rather than a curiosity. The project, led by Paradigm partner Arjun Balaji and initiated in late 2025, is designed to give sophisticated users Bloomberg‑style tools to trade, analyze and route liquidity across a growing ecosystem of on‑chain and regulated prediction platforms, according to a recent report in Fortune.

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The San Francisco‑based crypto investment firm is simultaneously weighing the launch of an internal prediction market‑making business, while working with researchers on a “prediction market index” that would package multiple event contracts into a single, tradable structure, explicitly modeled on benchmarks such as the S&P 500. Such an index could mirror earlier experiments with volatility and DeFi indices, and follows a broader wave of venture capital interest in the sector; one recent Forbes analysis noted that prediction market startups attracted $3.7 billion in new capital and “minted young billionaires at Polymarket and Kalshi” as trading volumes exploded.

Paradigm has already begun aggregating prediction market data into a public panel, a necessary precondition for any institutional‑grade terminal product. The firm is also one of the most aggressive financiers of regulated prediction venue Kalshi: in December 2025, Kalshi announced a $1 billion Series E funding round at an $11 billion valuation, led by Paradigm and joined by Sequoia, Andreessen Horowitz, ARK Invest and others, doubling its value in under two months, as first reported by TechCrunch and corroborated by company statements.

That bet has continued to pay off. A subsequent funding round reported in March 2026 lifted Kalshi’s valuation again, to $22 billion, after a further $1 billion raise, according to coverage compiled by Yahoo Finance and The Wall Street Journal. As prediction markets move from sub‑$100 million monthly volumes in early 2024 to more than $13 billion by the end of 2025, according to research cited by Forbes, the emergence of a dedicated Paradigm‑backed terminal, internal liquidity provision and index products suggests the asset class is being refashioned into financial infrastructure, rather than treated as a sideshow to spot crypto.

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Deepcoin becomes first CEX to integrate Polymarket ‘event contracts’

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Deepcoin becomes first CEX to integrate Polymarket 'event contracts'

Deepcoin is the first centralized exchange to integrate Polymarket event contracts, syncing quotes, liquidity and clearing so users can trade real‑world events with CEX tooling.

Summary

  • Deepcoin has launched synchronized “Event Contracts” in partnership with Polymarket, becoming the first centralized exchange to plug directly into its markets.
  • The integration offers real‑time quotes, shared liquidity and unified clearing, letting users trade Polymarket‑style contracts with CEX speed and tooling.
  • Deepcoin says it will keep refining the product toward a more “pure and professional” event‑trading experience tied to real‑world outcomes.

Cryptocurrency exchange Deepcoin has entered a formal partnership with prediction market platform Polymarket to launch “Event Contracts,” marking the first time a centralized exchange has integrated directly with Polymarket’s real‑money event markets. Announced on April 1, the tie‑up allows Deepcoin users to access “real quotes and liquidity support synchronized with global top event markets” while trading through standard exchange accounts, according to a company statement reported by ChainCatcher.

Under the new structure, both sides have implemented “deep integration of underlying logic and clearing synchronization,” so that positions taken via Deepcoin are effectively mirrored one‑for‑one with corresponding Polymarket contracts. This design means users can “directly participate in popular contracts on Polymarket through their Deepcoin accounts, enjoying CEX trading speed” and order‑book style execution that aligns with “professional trading habits,” the exchange said.

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Deepcoin framed the launch as the first step in building out a dedicated, institutional‑grade venue for real‑world event trading. The platform stated it would “continue to refine its products in the future to create a more pure and professional trading experience,” signaling plans to iterate on contract design, risk management and user analytics as volumes scale. By routing demand from a centralized venue into on‑chain prediction markets, the partnership effectively opens CEX rails into a segment historically dominated by niche DeFi interfaces and bespoke OTC flows.

The move lands just as regulated event markets and decentralized prediction protocols are drawing heightened attention from both venture capital and regulators. In March, Kalshi’s latest financing pushed its valuation to $22 billion as demand for macro and political contracts surged, according to coverage compiled by Yahoo Finance, while a recent Forbes analysis described prediction markets as “on the cusp of becoming core financial infrastructure” amid rising institutional interest. At the same time, U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission enforcement director David Miller has warned that insider‑trading laws apply fully to prediction markets, underscoring the compliance pressure that CEX integrations like Deepcoin’s will have to navigate.

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U.S. BTC ETFs post first monthly inflows since October

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ETF AUM (CheckonChain)

U.S.listed spot bitcoin ETFs ended March with $1.32 billion in net inflows to record their first monthly inflows since October, SoSoValue data shows.

This follows four consecutive months of net outflows, which coincided with bitcoin declining by as much as 50% from its October all time high of $126,000.
November saw $3.5 billion in outflows, followed by $1.1 billion in December, $1.6 billion in January, and $206 million in February.

March also marked bitcoin’s first positive monthly candle in six months, suggesting a potential shift in momentum.

ETF assets under management have remained relatively resilient, however. Holdings declined from 1.38 million BTC in October to a low of 1.28 million BTC, a drop of roughly 7%, and have since recovered to around 1.31 million BTC, according to CheckonChain.

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ETF investors remain underwater on average, with an estimated cost basis near $84,000 compared to a current spot price of about $68,000.

ETF AUM (CheckonChain)
ETF AUM (CheckonChain)

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Galaxy Digital’s (GLXY) testnet suffers hack but no client funds or information were compromised

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Galaxy Digital's (GLXY) testnet suffers hack but no client funds or information were compromised

Galaxy Digital (GLXY), the digital asset financial services firm founded by Mike Novogratz, said it recently contained a cybersecurity incident involving unauthorized access to an isolated development workspace, according to a statement from a company spokesperson.

“An immaterial amount of company funds used for testing within the isolated development workspace was impacted,” the spokesperson said in emailed comments. The loss was less than $10,000, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The firm emphasized that the affected environment was used solely for research and development and was not connected to its core infrastructure, production systems, trading platforms or client accounts.

Galaxy said it detected the intrusion and moved quickly to contain it, secure the compromised workspace and implement additional precautionary measures across its on-chain infrastructure.

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“No client funds or client account information were accessed or at risk at any point based on our review to date,” Galaxy said, adding that all platforms and services remain fully operational and secure for clients.

Hacks and exploits remain a persistent risk in the crypto industry, where the combination of open-source code, large pools of onchain liquidity and uneven security practices creates an attractive target for attackers.

Billions of dollars are lost to smart contract exploits, phishing schemes and infrastructure breaches, with industry estimates often exceeding $1–2 billion annually in recent years.

Even when incidents are contained, and client assets are not impacted, breaches can erode trust, trigger heightened regulatory scrutiny and underscore the operational risks facing firms operating in largely irreversible, always-on financial systems.

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Galaxy is a diversified financial services and investment firm focused on the digital asset and blockchain sector, providing institutional clients with trading, asset management, lending, advisory and custody services.

The firm operates across several core business lines, including global markets, asset management and digital infrastructure, while also running businesses in areas like crypto mining, staking and data center operations.

Positioned as a bridge between traditional finance and crypto, Galaxy offers institutional-grade access to digital assets and related technologies, alongside investments in blockchain ventures and emerging areas such as AI-powered infrastructure.

The company said it is continuing to review the incident and will provide updates as appropriate.

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Read more: Bitcoin’s quantum threat is real, but far from an existential crisis, Galaxy says

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What Does it Mean for Bitcoin?

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What Does it Mean for Bitcoin?

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor and chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, revealed on CNBC this week that his firm purchased approximately $17 billion in US Treasury bills at the latest auction. Is a stock market crash coming and what does it mean for Bitcoin (BTC)?

Key takeaways:

  • Berkshire held $373 billion in cash or cash equivalents as of 2025’s close, more than double the levels in 2023.

  • The firm’s rising cash reserves typically precede major stock market crashes, a bad sign for Bitcoin.

Buffett still sees better value in cash than in stocks

Buffett’s message is straightforward: Berkshire does not see the recent equity pullback as a sufficiently attractive buying opportunity.

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For context, the S&P 500 has fallen about 5.75% since reaching a record high in January.

S&P 500 weekly performance chart. Source: TradingView

Buffett said stocks are not “substantially” cheaper after the decline and described the sell-off as “nothing” compared with earlier downturns in which markets fell more than 50%.

That helps explain Berkshire’s latest Treasury-bill purchase. The company ended 2025 with about $373 billion in cash and equivalents, up from a record $334.2 billion a year earlier and more than double its level at the end of 2023.

Buffett, who famously called Bitcoin “rat poison,” typically gets into cash before major stock crashes, historical data shows.

In 1998, for instance, Buffett began trimming Berkshire’s stock exposure and raising cash, pushing the company’s cash and cash-equivalents holdings to $13.1 billion, or about 23% of total assets.

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Berkshire’s cash and cash-equivalents holdings chart. Source: GuruFocus.COM

By mid-2000, that figure had climbed to nearly $15 billion, or roughly 25% of assets, before Berkshire started deploying capital into bargains as the Dot-com bubble burst.

Bitcoin’s positive correlation with stocks may hurt prices

Bitcoin has traded more like a stock than a traditional safe haven for much of the post-2020 period, often moving in the same direction as US equities, especially the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

As of Wednesday, the 20-week rolling correlation coefficient between the two markets was positive at 0.47.

Nasdaq Composite and BTC/USD’s 20-week correlation coefficient chart. Source: TradingView

If Buffett’s risk-off strategy is correct, then Bitcoin should see another crash alongside stocks. Fresh quantum-security concerns, war-driven inflation risks, and nearly 50% US recession odds are putting pressure on the BTC price.

Berkshire’s portfolio decisions have also leaned away from crypto-adjacent finance.

In the first quarter of 2025, the firm fully exited Nu Holdings, a crypto-friendly fintech company, after building its position in 2021 and 2022. It secured about $250 million in profits from these investments.

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Multiple analysts predict BTC’s price to drop to as low as $30,000 in 2026.