Bitcoin’s Stablecoin Supply Ratio has fallen to 9.36, a level often viewed as sidelined buying power ready to deploy.

Bitcoin’s Stablecoin Supply Ratio (SSR) has dropped to 9.36, a level historically associated with significant buying power waiting on the sidelines, but on-chain data shows this metric is flashing a false signal.

According to analyst Axel Adler Jr., the decline is being driven by capital leaving the ecosystem rather than stablecoin accumulation, which fundamentally alters how investors interpret this classic bullish indicator.

Liquidity Drain, Not Dry Powder

The SSR measures Bitcoin’s market capitalization against total stablecoin supply, with lower readings traditionally suggesting ample stablecoin liquidity available to purchase BTC. However, current conditions tell a different story.

In a February 25 brief, Adler pointed out that USDT capitalization peaked at $187.2 billion on December 30, 2025, and has since contracted to $183.6 billion, a $3.6 billion outflow over 60 days. Additionally, the 30-day change has remained negative for 34 consecutive days, now sitting at -$3.08 billion.

This matters because SSR’s mathematical decline stems from both components weakening simultaneously. Bitcoin’s market cap has dropped roughly 27% during this period, while stablecoin supply also contracted.

“Technically SSR falls mathematically because BTC market cap has collapsed, but the simultaneous contraction of USDT strips this signal of any bullish potential,” Adler explained.

The Estimated Leverage Ratio confirms the structural weakness, remaining flat around 0.219 across all exchanges for 90 days despite Bitcoin’s sharp correction. This plateau indicates speculative capital isn’t adding new risk, but crucially, isn’t shedding old risk either, thus creating potential for cascading liquidations on further downside.

Aged Supply, Absent Buyers

Bitcoin’s recent price action reflects the fragility described above, with the asset briefly falling below $63,000 on February 24 before recovering to current levels around $65,400. This price represents a dip of more than 25% across the last 30 days and nearly 27% over one year.

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HODL Waves data published recently also revealed a defensive market structure beneath the price action. Coins last moved 3 to 6 months ago now comprise approximately 26% of the circulating supply, up from 19% earlier this month.

These correspond to purchases near the November 2025 peak above $120,000, now held at a loss. Meanwhile, the 6 to 12 month cohort has grown to about 20%, while coins moved within the past month account for less than 10% of supply.

Furthermore, the Realized Cap Net Position Change confirms capital exiting the network, standing at -2.26% over 30 days with $33 billion in value compression since late November.

The distinction between SSR decline through outflow versus accumulation carries real implications. According to Adler, for a genuine trend reversal, two things must happen at the same time: the 30-day USDT change returning to sustained positive territory (confirming fresh capital inflow) and ELR beginning to rise during price stabilization. Until then, the analyst says Bitcoin’s low SSR represents not opportunity, but the mathematical residue of capital departure.

Stablecoin issuer Tether has made a $200 million strategic investment in Whop, an online marketplace, as it looks to expand stablecoin payments into more real-world use cases.

Tether’s USDT stablecoin currently has a market cap of about $183 billion, according to DeFiLlama data, making it the largest circulating stablecoin worldwide.

Whop co-founder Steven Schwartz said in a post on X that Tether’s investment pushed the company’s valuation to $1.6 billion. As part of the deal, Whop will integrate Tether’s Wallet Development Kit (WDK), allowing users to send and receive payments in stablecoins like USDT.

“In partnership with Tether, we will be scaling infrastructure in real-time for new business models as they emerge across the globe,” Schwartz said on X. “The job is just getting started.”

The deal is part of Tether’s broader push to expand beyond crypto trading and into everyday finance. Specifically, Tether will gain exposure to a platform with over 18 million users and about $3 billion in yearly payouts. Moreover, Whop’s transaction volume has been growing around 25% month over month, according to an official announcement.

“Stablecoins and wallets become most powerful when they are embedded directly into people’s lives, supporting their businesses, activities, families, and individual stories,” Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino said, per the announcement. “Our investment in Whop proudly reflects Tether’s focus on supporting real economic activity by providing efficient digital dollar and wallet infrastructure that can scale to billions of people, across every continent.”

The new funding will help Whop expand into Latin America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region, while also developing new financial tools and AI features for its users. The investment also builds on Tether’s recent expansion efforts, including the launch of its regulated U.S. stablecoin USAT last month.

Three major DeFi tokens — Morpho (MORPHO), Uniswap (UNI), and Jupiter (JUP) — rallied sharply over the past week after Wall Street firms Apollo Global Management, BlackRock, and ParaFi Capital struck landmark deals to acquire direct stakes in onchain financial infrastructure.

The moves signal a structural shift, as traditional asset managers move beyond crypto exposure and begin acquiring governance and economic ownership in decentralized trading and lending rails.

Morpho Surges after Apollo Agrees to Acquire 90 Million Tokens

Morpho posted the strongest rally after Apollo Global Management announced a cooperation agreement to acquire up to 90 million MORPHO tokens over four years. The purchase represents roughly 9% of total supply.

The deal gives Apollo governance exposure and positions the firm to support lending markets built on Morpho’s infrastructure. 

Morpho currently secures about $5.8 billion in total value locked, making it one of the largest onchain lending platforms.

Investors responded quickly. MORPHO is up nearly 30% in a week. 

Uniswap Jumps as BlackRock buys UNI and Integrates Tokenized Fund

Uniswap rallied after BlackRock confirmed it purchased UNI tokens alongside integrating its $2 billion tokenized Treasury fund, BUIDL, onto Uniswap’s institutional trading infrastructure.

The integration allows institutional investors to trade tokenized Treasury exposure using Uniswap’s decentralized exchange rails. 

Meanwhile, BlackRock’s UNI purchase gives the asset manager governance influence over the protocol that now hosts its fund.

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UNI surged sharply late in the week, rallying nearly 20%. 

ParaFi Invests $35 Million directly Into JUP

Jupiter also rallied after ParaFi Capital invested $35 million directly into the protocol’s JUP token. 

Unlike typical venture deals, ParaFi purchased tokens at market price with lockups and warrants for future purchases.

BREAKING:

Jupiter secures a $35M strategic investment into $JUP from ParaFi Capital to accelerate onchain financial infrastructure.

This deal – which will be settled entirely in $JupUSD – was closed at spot price with ParaFi committing to an extended token lockup. pic.twitter.com/7moUP2nQjK

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— Jupiter (@JupiterExchange) February 2, 2026

The deal marks Jupiter’s first institutional investment and aligns ParaFi with the platform’s expansion into lending, stablecoins, and institutional trading infrastructure.

JUP rose from approximately $0.144 to $0.163 during the week.

Together, the deals highlight a broader trend. Instead of simply buying crypto assets, Wall Street firms are acquiring governance stakes in core DeFi protocols.

This transition signals growing institutional confidence in onchain financial rails and helps explain the strong price reactions across lending and trading infrastructure tokens.

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Bitcoin (BTC) rallied to a weekly high of $69,500 on Wednesday, surging from lows near $62,400 in less than 24 hours. The rebound aligned with a renewed spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows and firmer macroeconomic sentiment after the recent US policy signals helped steady broader risk markets.

Derivatives data shows that BTC’s open interest is falling and funding rates are staying relatively contained, indicating the move was largely driven by spot demand rather than a buildup of leveraged positioning.

Bitcoin receives a macro boost and a positive ETF flip

US President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address on Tuesday evening framed the first 12-months of his leadership as an “economic turnaround for the ages,” highlighting falling mortgage rates and a 1.7% decline in core inflation over the final three months of 2025.

Markets interpreted the remarks as a sign of reduced near-term policy uncertainty following tariff and Supreme Court volatility, lifting the risk appetite across equities and crypto.

The US spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded $257.7 million in net inflows on Feb. 24, ending five consecutive weeks of redemptions totaling $3.8 billion. Fidelity drew roughly $83 million, and BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust added close to $79 million.

Related: Bitcoin daily gains near 5% as analysis eyes bullish ‘rotation’ from gold

Bitcoin futures data clears excess downside risk

As Bitcoin trades above $69,000, futures data shows that its aggregated open interest has stabilized around 235,167 BTC, after previously reaching levels above 240,000 BTC earlier in the week.

The drop in open interest suggests that the excess leveraged positioning has already been flushed out during the recent volatility.

At the same time, aggregated funding rates remain slightly negative at -0.0037%. Negative funding indicates that short positions are still paying longs, signaling that traders are not aggressively chasing upside exposure despite the price rally.

This combination of cooling open interest and negative-to-neutral funding points to a market that has reset leverage rather than overheated. The rally toward $69,000 appears to be occurring without an aggressive buildup of long positioning.

The cumulative volume delta (CVD) has edged higher, showing that spot buyers are stepping in and are one of the primary drivers of this rally. 

Market analyst BackQuant noted that derivatives activity is still playing a large role, and options data shows that dealers, the firms that sell options and hedge their exposure, are holding what’s known as positive gamma.

When gamma is positive, dealers tend to buy as the price falls and sell as the price rises to stay hedged. That behavior can smooth out volatility and slow sharp breakouts in either direction.

Likewise, trader LP also pointed to BTC’s order book dynamics around the $60,000–$63,000 region, where strong bid pressure previously absorbed selling. Since tapping that zone, the price has expanded roughly 8% to the upside. 

The trader added that if sell pressure builds again at these levels, it may signal a slowdown in buy-side aggression and trigger another lower reversal.

Related: Anchorage buys STRC as Wall Street shorts mount against Saylor’s Bitcoin proxy