Spain’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Bit2Me, moved 5.3 billion euros (around $6.24 billion) in trading volume in 2025, an eightfold jump since 2023, as it shifted from a consumer-facing platform to backend infrastructure for banks and law enforcement.

That volume was accompanied by growth in business-to-business revenue, which jumped from 18% of the total in 2023 to 27% in 2025. Crypto-backed loans, a relatively new offering, rose 672% in a single year, with the company’s CFO, Pablo Casadio, saying he sees the crypto industry entering a financial infrastructure phase that the company is taking advantage of, given its backing.

The exchange, backed by various banks including Bankinter, Unicaja, and Cecabank as well as telecom giant Telefónica and Tether, made $25 million in revenue last year.

Read more: Spanish bank Bankinter joins BBVA and Tether with stake in crypto exchange Bit2Me

Much of that came from a new API product that allows institutions to effectively outsource their crypto operations. Spanish wholesale bank Cecabank, which also holds a stake in the company, has integrated Bit2Me’s infrastructure to offer digital asset services to other regional banks, complementing a similar liquidity deal with BBVA’s Turkish crypto subsidiary, Garanti BBVA Kripto.

The exchange became the first in Spain to secure an EU Markets in Crypto Assets (MiCA) license and spent 3,000 hours on regulatory-compliant work and 2.5 million euros ($2.9 million) to achieve it, Bit2Me executives told reporters during a briefing.

The effort temporarily pushed its EBITDA into negative territory, but opened doors that few crypto firms can access and allowed it to start expanding. The company last week started expanding into the Portuguese market, with plans to enter Italy, France and Germany in the near future.

Bit2Me also unveiled that it has been eyeing the U.S. and Middle East markets, which are far more competitive. “If we do anything, it needs to be done the way we did it in Spain, everything by the book,” Andrei Manuel, the platform’s COO and co-founder, said during the briefing attended by CoinDesk.

Turning siezed crypto to fiat

It has also been acting as a “crypto liquidator” for the Spanish government. Bit2Me has built a pipeline to convert confiscated digital assets into euros, working directly with Interpol, Europol and national police, its executives added.

The system leverages blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis to ensure traceability. In 2025, Bit2Me processed 1.5 million euros ($1.76 million) in seized crypto on behalf of agencies that include Interpol, Europol, and Spanish police. These funds are converted into fiat currency for the state.

While other governments still auction off crypto through third parties, Spain’s direct liquidation model mirrors the U.S. Marshals Service’s deal with Coinbase.

Ethereum price formed a bearish engulfing candle on Monday and dropped over 6% amidst a market-wide crash led by Bitcoin.

According to data from crypto.news, Ethereum (ETH) price fell 6.3% to $1,855 on Monday during early Asian hours before stabilizing at $1,874 at press time. Ethereum price tanked amid a broader market crash as fresh U.S. tariff threats on all trading partners and potential military escalation in the U.S. and Iran conflict hurt investor appetite for crypto assets.

Notably, Bitcoin (BTC), the bellwether of the market, has dropped below the $65,000 psychological support level, wiping out millions of leveraged long positions with the shock extending to other major crypto assets such as Ethereum. CoinGlass data show that nearly $108 million worth of ETH long positions were liquidated in the past 24 hours.

On the daily chart, Ethereum price has formed a bearish engulfing candle amid its drop today. The largest altcoin in the market has so far fallen roughly 45% from its yearly high and 62% from its all-time high of $4,946 reached in August 2025.

ETH’s price action has formed a bearish pennant pattern characterized by a flag-like pole and a triangle formation at the bottom. A breakout from such patterns has historically been followed by massive downside risks.

At the same time, zooming out the chart also shows the formation of a multi-month descending parallel channel, another bearish pattern in technical analysis. 

Based on these technical indicators, Ethereum could drop to $1,450 if it were to respect the lower boundary of the descending channel pattern. This would mean loss of the $1,500 level, which is an important psychological support.

A breach of the $1,500 psychological floor would represent a significant structural breakdown, likely triggering a cascade of stop-losses. Given the current macro-driven volatility, it could result in a rapid capitulation phase in the coming sessions as liquidity dries up at lower levels.

ETH investors have turned bearish

The bearish prediction for Ethereum could gain further traction from the lackluster demand for its exchange-traded products over recent weeks. Data from SoSoValue shows that the nine-spot Ethereum ETFs have recorded back-to-back outflows for the fifth consecutive week, totalling around $1.38 billion.

Meanwhile, the weighted funding rate, which measures the cost of holding short positions, has fallen deeply into the red territory, suggesting that Ethereum bears are increasingly betting on further price declines while paying a premium to long holders.

Macro jitters from an emerging AI disruption trade are compounding crypto-native weakness, with majors posting 8-11% weekly losses across the board.

Bitcoin slid to around $62,900 on Tuesday, down 2.1% on the day and 7.5% on the week, extending a grinding move lower that has so far refused to produce either a clean breakdown or a strong bounce.

The price action has pinned the market inside the $60,000-to-$70,000 band that formed after the Feb. 5 flush — a range that is starting to feel less like a base and more like a holding pattern waiting for a catalyst.

Altcoins are faring worse. Ethereum traded near $1,829, down 8% on the week. XRP fell 10.8%, Solana’s SOL shed 11.3%, and dogecoin dropped nearly 10%. The underperformance across majors reflects a market where risk appetite is shrinking toward bitcoin and even that bid is thinning.

CryptoQuant flagged sell-side pressure among altcoins at five-year highs, suggesting holders are actively distributing into a market where buyers remain scarce outside of the largest cap.

That kind of structural selling tends to grind prices lower without the dramatic liquidation candles that attract dip buyers, making it a slower bleed that is harder for momentum traders to position around.

FxPro chief market analyst Alex Kuptsikevich said in an email bitcoin’s recent attempt at recovery is shaping up as consolidation rather than reversal. He pointed to a bearish pennant forming on the daily chart, noting that a move below the mid-$65,000 area would confirm downside continuation while a break above $70,000 would invalidate the pattern.

More broadly, he described the $60,000-to-$70,000 range as historically significant — a zone that acted as the ceiling for the entire 2021 cycle and now appears to be serving as a battlefield between long-term accumulators and newer holders cutting losses.

AI fears return

Adding to the pressure is a macro dynamic that has nothing to do with crypto directly but is draining the same pool of risk capital.

A Citrini Research report flagged an emerging “AI scare trade” this week, warning of widespread economic disruption from artificial intelligence across delivery, payments, and software sectors. The note triggered selling in tech-adjacent equities as investors reassessed which companies benefit from AI adoption and which face displacement risk.

That kind of broad risk recalibration tends to hit crypto on a lag. Digital assets don’t always sell off in lockstep with equities, but they are sensitive to the same shifts in liquidity and positioning that drive risk-off moves — and right now, the mood in both markets is pointing the same direction.

Bitcoin is now 48% below its October all-time high and sitting 5.5% below its 2021 peak of $69,000. The longer it trades in this range without reclaiming higher ground, the more the technical picture tilts toward the bears.

Satlantis has launched as a Bitcoin-native events and ticketing platform that embeds Lightning wallets directly into user accounts and events, allowing organizers to issue tickets and receive payments in Bitcoin without relying solely on traditional payment processors.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the platform functions similarly to services like Luma and Eventbrite, offering ticket tiers, attendee management and event pages, but automatically generates a unique Bitcoin (BTC) wallet for each event to facilitate direct payments and withdrawals.

Satlantis also integrates with Stripe to process fiat payments and said it plans to add stablecoin support, allowing organizers to accept Bitcoin, traditional currency or both through a single dashboard.

According to Satlantis’s crowdfunding page, investors in the startup include Bitcoin Opportunity Fund and Timechain Capital, a venture capital fund dedicated to Bitcoin infrastructure projects.

Using Lightning Network to cut fees

The company said its model is a way to reduce ticketing fees and expand access in regions where traditional payment rails are limited, using Bitcoin’s Lightning Network to enable low-cost, cross-border transactions.

The Lightning Network is a layer-2 protocol built on Bitcoin that enables faster, lower-cost transactions by processing payments off-chain.

According to data cited recently by River marketing director Sam Wouters, the network’s transaction volume reached an estimated $1.1 billion across 5.2 million transactions in November.

Related: How many people actually pay with Bitcoin? Real use cases revealed

Crypto’s expanding role in ticketing and live events

Efforts to integrate cryptocurrency into ticketing predate many current Web3 platforms, with sports teams and travel companies experimenting with digital-asset payments for more than a decade.

In sports, the Sacramento Kings became the first NBA team to accept Bitcoin for tickets and merchandise in 2014. The Dallas Mavericks followed in 2019 after owner Mark Cuban signaled plans to support crypto payments, ultimately allowing fans to purchase game tickets with Bitcoin.

Beyond payment acceptance, blockchain companies are also experimenting with how live events are financed and settled. TIX, the onchain settlement network behind KYD Labs, aims to turn tickets into tokenized real-world assets that can be used to access upfront capital and automate repayment flows.

Major sporting bodies have also explored blockchain-based ticket-linked products. FIFA, the global governing body for soccer, has experimented with non-fungible token (NFT) initiatives tied to its tournaments. NFTs are unique blockchain-based tokens that verify ownership of a specific digital asset.

Ahead of the 2026 World Cup, FIFA sold “right-to-buy” NFTs granting holders a reserved window to purchase match tickets at face value if certain conditions are met. The tokens are not tickets themselves but can be traded on FIFA’s NFT marketplace. 

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