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Bitcoin ETFs barely flinch as BTC slides 40%, Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas says

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Bitcoin ETFs barely flinch as BTC slides 40%, Bloomberg’s Eric Balchunas says

Latest developments: ETF investors are proving more resilient than many expected during bitcoin’s latest drawdown. In an interview on CoinDesk’s Markets Outlook, Bloomberg Intelligence Senior ETF Analyst Eric Balchunas highlighted several key data points demonstrating this stability:

  • Bitcoin has fallen more than 40% from recent highs, a move that historically rattles retail-heavy crypto markets.
  • Over the same period, only 6.6% of Bitcoin ETF assets have exited.
  • “For now, the ETF boomers have really come through,” he said.

Why ETF holders are holding: Balchunas argues ETF investors are structurally different from crypto-native traders.

  • Many ETF buyers treat bitcoin as a 1%–2% “hot sauce” allocation alongside stocks and bonds, rather than a core holding.
  • Their broader portfolios have benefited from strong equity markets, cushioning the psychological blow of crypto losses.
  • ETF investors “tend to hold really strong,” Balchunas said, having lived through multiple market cycles in traditional assets.

The contrast with crypto natives: The same price drop can feel radically different depending on exposure.

  • Investors heavily concentrated in bitcoin face what Balchunas described as “existential crisis mode.”
  • Leveraged traders and long-time holders may be driving more of the selling pressure than ETF investors.
  • “Volatility is the cost of the returns,” Balchunas said, noting bitcoin has endured seven or eight similar drawdowns historically.

Lessons from gold ETFs: Balchunas sees parallels between bitcoin and gold as ETF-wrapped assets.

  • Gold ETFs suffered a roughly 40% drop over six months about a decade ago, during which about one-third of assets left.
  • Despite that, gold ETFs later rebuilt assets and now hold roughly $160 billion.
  • Bitcoin ETFs briefly rivaled gold ETFs in size before the recent selloff, highlighting how flows can reverse over time.

What comes next: Volatility is likely to persist, but ETFs may anchor bitcoin’s place in traditional finance.

  • Balchunas said bitcoin’s 17-year history shows repeated recoveries to new highs after major downturns.
  • ETF structures mean Bitcoin now sits alongside stocks, bonds and commodities in mainstream portfolios.
  • “A selloff doesn’t mean the end,” he said. “It just means it’s a selloff.”

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Crypto World

Fira Debuts Fixed-Rate DeFi Lending Protocol with $450M in Deposits

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Fira Debuts Fixed-Rate DeFi Lending Protocol with $450M in Deposits

Ethereum-based decentralized finance (DeFi) lending protocol Fira said on Tuesday it was launching with about $450 million in deposits, highlighting demand for fixed-rate onchain credit.

Fira said the protocol’s fixed-rate credit market allows users to lock borrowing costs and lending returns for defined periods by organizing lending around maturities rather than floating utilization-based rates, according to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph.

The fixed-rate model differs from most DeFi lending protocols, where borrowers cannot lock funding costs, and lenders cannot predict returns, making long-term DeFi lending less predictable. Fira’s said its model organizes markets by maturity and determines interest rates by supply and demand mechanics, replacing utilization algorithms that fluctuate with borrowing activity.

Fira said the design is intended to create a more predictable onchain credit market by introducing yield curves and defined maturities, features that are standard in traditional fixed-income markets but rare in DeFi.

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Fira is not the first DeFi lending protocol built around fixed-rate credit. Other protocols with similar structures include Notional Finance, IPOR and Term Finance.

Fira debuts fixed-rate onchain credit market. Source: Fira

Euler-linked liquidity migrated into Fira

Fira said it debuted with $450 million in deposits, which were “reallocated” from users of the modular lending platform Euler Finance during the pre-launch phase that started on Jan. 8, Pete Siegel, chief financial officer at Fira, told Cointelegraph. 

“Fira was pre-launched in January. It opened with a first market called UZR, which enabled roughly a thousand users who were already on Euler, in a product available on Euler to migrate their assets at a fixed rate.”

Siegel said the deposits reflect user interest in fixed-rate lending products.

DeFi lending protocol rankings by TVL. Source: DeFiLlama

DefiLlama currently shows Fira with about $451.6 million in total value locked on Ethereum, compared with roughly $25.3 billion for Aave, the sector’s largest lending protocol.

Related: Maestro launches mining-backed Bitcoin credit market for institutions

Fira said its smart contracts have undergone six independent security audits conducted by Sherlock, Spearbit via Cantina, Hexens and yAudit between November 2025 and early 2026.

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Fira’s bug bounty program through Sherlock offers up to $500,000 in rewards for users finding critical vulnerabilities in the protocol’s open-source Ethereum-based smart contracts.