Crypto World
Bitcoin price above $73k as Iran war, oil shock and Fed bets fuel risk-on mood
Bitcoin’s brief jump above $73k shows bulls still in control, but Iran war risks, oil shocks and crowded leverage leave BTC vulnerable to a violent flush.
Summary
- Bitcoin price reclaimed the $73k area as global risk assets bounced despite ongoing Iran war headlines and oil market stress.
- Derivatives data show rising funding, packed longs and whale leverage on BTC and ETH, primed for cascade liquidations if momentum stalls.
- With Iran threatening shipping and higher oil, traders are shifting to tighter stops, staged profit‑taking and options hedges into late‑cycle volatility.
Bitcoin (BTC) price briefly cleared the $73,000 mark in the last trading session, signaling the current bullish phase is intact but leverage and positioning are now approaching blow‑off conditions.
Bitcoin breaks above $73K as risk appetite returns
Bitcoin pushed above $73,000 in the past 24 hours, gaining around 4% and extending its march to new all‑time highs against a backdrop of renewed risk appetite in global markets. This move comes as US equities continue to trade near record levels and traders maintain expectations for at least one Federal Reserve rate cut before year‑end, keeping liquidity conditions supportive for high‑beta assets such as BTC. On major derivatives venues, funding rates and open interest have been grinding higher, reflecting aggressive long positioning rather than spot‑led demand.
The latest leg higher follows weeks of sustained inflows into Bitcoin exchange‑traded products and centralized exchanges, with market depth still thinner than in prior cycles despite the larger nominal price. That combination of rising leverage and limited resting liquidity leaves the market vulnerable to sharp liquidations if price momentum stalls or macro data surprise to the upside on inflation.
Leverage and whale positioning intensify
Onchain and derivatives‑tracking dashboards show that a handful of large traders have materially increased risk into the breakout, using double‑digit leverage on both BTC and ETH. One heavily watched account has built sizeable long positions on Ethereum with leverage around 15x, echoing similar high‑stakes trades reported in prior ETH rallies in 2025 that at times exceeded 25,000 ETH notional and over $100 million in exposure. While the current configuration differs in size and entry levels, the underlying dynamic is the same: concentrated players are amplifying upside moves, but also raising the risk of cascade liquidations if the market reverses.
In parallel, research firm Trend Research and its affiliates have repeatedly moved large ETH tranches between self‑custody, lending protocols and centralized exchanges in recent weeks, including deposits and withdrawals in the tens of thousands of ETH and tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in value. These flows underline how a small group of funds can influence short‑term liquidity and sentiment when Bitcoin tests new highs and investors chase beta down the risk curve.
What this means for traders
For directional traders, Bitcoin reclaiming and holding above the $70,000–$73,000 band confirms that the primary trend remains intact, but it also suggests that risk management now matters more than raw conviction. Elevated open interest, richer funding rates and large whale leverage all point to a market that can overshoot higher but will unwind violently on any macro or regulatory shock.
From a portfolio‑construction perspective, professional desks are likely to favor staggered profit‑taking on strength, tighter stop‑losses on high‑leverage BTC and ETH longs, and increased use of options to hedge downside tails while keeping upside participation. Retail investors chasing the breakout should be aware that the easy part of the move is probably behind, and that late‑cycle volatility around psychological levels like $75,000 and $80,000 historically separates disciplined participants from forced sellers.
BlackRock’s head of digital assets, Robert Mitchnick, outlined a cautious but active posture toward crypto exchange-traded products as the asset manager debuted a staking-focused Ether ETF this week. Speaking on CNBC, Mitchnick acknowledged that some exotic ETF structures being piloted by peers may appeal to certain investors, but BlackRock intends to take a measured path—relying on liquidity, maturity, and well-defined use cases to guide expansion. The firm’s Ether-focused product, the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB), arrived amid data showing staking yields and growing institutional appetite for yield-oriented crypto exposure.
Key takeaways
- BlackRock signals a measured approach to expanding its crypto ETF lineup, prioritizing durability and liquidity over rapid novelty.
- ETHB, BlackRock’s staking-focused Ether product, debuted with about $15.5 million in trading volume and roughly $43.5 million in inflows, underscoring investor demand for yield strategies on Ethereum.
- ETHB is BlackRock’s second Ether product after ETHA, which has amassed nearly $12 billion in inflows since its July 2024 launch.
- Investor interest in Bitcoin remains strong, but Mitchnick noted pockets of demand for assets beyond BTC and ETH, suggesting a broader menu could emerge over time.
- BlackRock is exploring a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF that would use covered call strategies on Bitcoin futures, aiming to generate yield while acknowledging potential upside trade-offs.
- BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin product, IBIT, has drawn significant attention: investors have been disproportionately long-term buyers, with large inflows since January 2024.
Tickers mentioned: $BTC, $ETH, $IBIT, $ETHB, $ETHA
Market context: The push by BlackRock reflects a broader shift in the crypto ETF space toward yield-oriented and staking strategies, as institutions weigh liquidity, risk, and the evolving regulatory backdrop. While Bitcoin and Ether attract the most attention, managers are testing a spectrum of structures to serve different investor appetites, from pass-through yield to structured upside participation.
Why it matters
The rollout of ETHB marks a notable milestone in BlackRock’s iteration over crypto exposure, signaling that the asset manager still views staking yields as a legitimate allocation mechanism within a diversified crypto sleeve. The product’s early reception—substantial debut volume and inflows—suggests a growing appetite among institutional and sophisticated retail participants for yield-generating crypto access, not just price appreciation. As ETHB follows ETHA in BlackRock’s Ether lineup, stakeholders will be watching whether staking-based products translate into sustained inflows and how liquidity profiles evolve in a market that remains sensitive to macro signals and regulatory developments.
Mitchnick’s remarks also underscore a deliberate strategy around product design. While acknowledging interest in more exotic ETF structures, he framed BlackRock’s approach as cautious and purposeful, focused on liquidity, maturity, and clear use cases. The emphasis on “discerning” expansion implies that the firm views crypto ETFs as long-term vehicles rather than short-term experiments. In this light, ETHB’s debut and ETHA’s continued inflows could influence how other firms shape their own ether-related products, potentially shaping a more stable, yield-oriented subset of the crypto market.
Beyond Ether, the potential Bitcoin Premium Income ETF signals that yield-focused concepts are moving from novelty toward a more procedural framework in the eyes of asset managers and regulators. The concept—selling covered calls on Bitcoin futures to generate income—could create a regular payout stream for investors, but it may also cap upside exposure relative to a direct Bitcoin investment. That trade-off is central to the ongoing debate about how best to balance yield with capital appreciation in crypto portfolios, especially for investors seeking diversification within regulated vehicles.
On the demand side, BlackRock’s IBIT remains a case study in investor psychology. Data cited by the firm indicate that IBIT’s holders have tended to be long-term buyers, often dipping to capitalize on pullbacks rather than chasing short-term momentum. Since its launch in January 2024, IBIT has attracted more than $63 billion in inflows, reinforcing the notion that a core group of investors views regulated BTC exposure as a strategic, structural position within a broader crypto allocation. The contrast between these historical inflows and periods of market volatility elsewhere in the ecosystem suggests a segment of investors prioritizes risk management and regulated access over speculative timing.
We continue to evaluate those as conditions evolve and as maturity, liquidity scale and use cases develop, but we take a very discerning approach in terms of what we would put in an iShares ETF (EXCHANGE: ETHA).
What to watch next
- Monitoring ETHB’s ongoing performance and liquidity: weekly inflows, trading volumes, and any commentary from Farside Investors or other data providers.
- Regulatory and product milestones for the Bitcoin Premium Income ETF: any filings, approvals, or timing signals that could indicate a broader appetite for yield-based Bitcoin strategies.
- Continued flows into ETHA and the broader Ether ETF lineup, assessing whether ETHB complements ETHA without cannibalizing demand.
- IBIT’s inflow trajectory and investor base evolution: whether the long-term buyer pattern persists amid shifting risk sentiment and macro conditions.
Sources & verification
- CNBC interview with BlackRock’s Robert Mitchnick discussing ETF structures and expansion strategy.
- Farside data on ETHB’s debut trading volume and inflows.
- Historical inflows and performance metrics for ETHA since July 2024.
- Public announcements and coverage of BlackRock’s Bitcoin Premium Income ETF initiative.
- Performance and inflow history for IBIT since January 2024.
Market reaction and key details
BlackRock’s latest comments and the ETHB launch come at a time when the crypto ETF market is gradually expanding beyond first-mover products centered on spot Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). The emphasis on yield-oriented exposure reflects a broader investor demand for regulated, income-producing crypto strategies that still offer upside potential tied to underlying assets. Mitchnick’s framing suggests that the firm aims to balance practical use with risk controls, a stance that could influence other asset managers as they navigate liquidity, regulatory scrutiny, and market readiness for more sophisticated crypto vehicles.
In practical terms, ETHB’s emergence as a companion to ETHA demonstrates that BlackRock is willing to operate more than a single-footprint approach to Ether exposure. ETHA’s strong inflows since its July 2024 debut underline a persistent appetite for Ether-linked vehicles, and ETHB’s early performance adds a yield-focused angle to the Ether narrative. The success or limitations of these products will likely shape how the market perceives staking-derived yields as a core component of regulated crypto investing, potentially drawing in more institutional money that seeks defined risk parameters and transparency in a rapidly evolving space.
On the BTC front, the IBIT product remains a focal point for investors seeking regulated, on-exchange exposure to Bitcoin’s price trajectory. Its long-term buy-and-hold cohort has withstood episodes of selling pressure elsewhere in the ecosystem, illustrating that a segment of the market remains committed to regulated access rather than pure price speculation. As BlackRock weighs further expansions, the industry will be watching how these products scale in terms of liquidity, custody arrangements, and track records, all while the regulatory environment continues to mature and provide clearer guardrails for institutional players.
TLDR:
- Boris Johnson labeled Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme in a March 13 Daily Mail opinion column.
- Michael Saylor argued Bitcoin lacks a central operator, a key requirement of Ponzi schemes.
- Social posts cited Bitcoin’s $1.42 trillion market cap and roughly $62 billion daily volume.
- Former Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng said politicians often misunderstand Bitcoin’s fixed supply design.
Bitcoin faced renewed political criticism after former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson labeled it a Ponzi scheme.
Johnson shared the view in a March 13 Daily Mail opinion piece discussing digital assets and financial scams. His remarks compared Bitcoin unfavorably to assets such as gold and even collectible Pokémon cards.
The column quickly circulated across social platforms and triggered a wave of responses from crypto leaders.
Boris Johnson Calls Bitcoin a Ponzi Scheme in Daily Mail Column
Johnson’s column described Bitcoin as a system that relies on new investors entering the market. He argued that the cryptocurrency lacks intrinsic value and clear accountability.
The former prime minister illustrated his argument with a personal anecdote from his village. He described a retired man who lost about £20,000 after trusting a stranger promising to double money.
According to the column, the retiree initially handed over £500 in a pub. Over several years he paid repeated fees while expecting a payout that never arrived.
Johnson used the story to argue that Bitcoin encourages speculation and deception. He also compared it with physical assets like gold and collectible items such as Pokémon cards.
The article circulated widely after publication and drew sharp reactions online. A post summarizing the argument attracted millions of views across social media platforms.
Bitcoin Advocates Reject Ponzi Claim as Crypto Debate Intensifies
Several prominent crypto figures rejected Johnson’s characterization of Bitcoin. MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor addressed the claim directly on the social platform X.
Saylor argued that a Ponzi scheme requires a central operator promising guaranteed returns. He said Bitcoin operates without an issuer, promoter, or promise of profits.
According to Saylor, Bitcoin functions as an open monetary network driven by code and market demand. He noted that anyone can inspect the public blockchain and verify transactions.
Crypto publication TFTC also disputed the argument in a widely shared thread. The post stated that a scammer stole the retiree’s money rather than the Bitcoin network.
The thread added that Bitcoin currently holds a market capitalization of about $1.42 trillion. It also reported roughly $62 billion in daily trading volume across global markets.
Former UK Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng also weighed in on the debate online. He argued that many politicians misunderstand digital assets and their monetary design.
Kwarteng pointed to Bitcoin’s fixed supply model as a key difference from fiat currencies.
His comments referenced the long-term purchasing power decline of the British pound.
Meanwhile Bitcoin traded near $71,000 during the exchange of arguments. The discussion revived a long-running divide between crypto supporters and traditional finance critics.
TLDR:
- A wallet swapped $50M in aEthUSDT but received only $36K in AAVE due to extreme slippage losses.
- MEV bots and Titan Builder collectively extracted nearly $44M from the single swap transaction.
- On-chain analysts linked 13 wallets to one entity, all funded via Binance on February 16 and 20.
- The suspected trader sold $543M in ETH and $761M in BTC days before the controversial swap occurred.
A $50M AAVE swap has raised serious questions across the crypto community this week. A wallet swapped $50 million worth of aEthUSDT but received only approximately $36,000 in AAVE tokens.
Nearly $44 million was extracted from the trade by MEV bots and validators. On-chain analysts have since traced multiple linked wallets and pointed to a possible identity. The transaction continues to divide opinion between an accidental error and a deliberate financial strategy.
The Mechanics Behind the $50M AAVE Swap
The $50M AAVE swap originated from a wallet created on February 20 with no prior on-chain activity. Funds were deposited from a centralized exchange shortly before the trade.
The user supplied USDT to Aave’s protocol and received aEthUSDT as an interest-bearing token. That aEthUSDT was then swapped for AAVE via a mobile interface.
A 40–50% slippage warning would have appeared before the swap was executed. The trade only proceeds when the user manually confirms and accepts that warning.
The swap sought to acquire roughly 3% of AAVE’s total supply in a single transaction. AAVE carries a fully diluted valuation of approximately $1.8 billion.
An MEV bot captured 16,927 ETH, worth around $34.8 million, from the transaction. Titan Builder received 568 ETH while retaining 16,359 ETH, valued at roughly $33.6 million.
The MEV bot operator separately kept approximately $10 million from the event. Aave’s protocol collected around $600,000 in fees.
In total, roughly $44 million was extracted from the original $50 million swap. The initiating wallet received only 327 aEthAAVE tokens, equivalent to about $36,000.
That amounts to a near-total loss on the swapped value. Crypto analyst CryptoPatel publicly questioned whether this was a money-washing strategy.
The structure of the fund flow has drawn scrutiny from blockchain researchers. Unlike a standard failed trade, the extracted funds moved through a defined chain of recipients.
Each actor received a calculable share of the total value. That pattern is atypical for an unintentional slippage event.
On-Chain Investigation Traces Wallets to a Possible Identity
On-chain analysts identified 13 wallets potentially linked to the same entity behind the $50M AAVE swap. All of these wallets reportedly received USDC and USDT from Binance on February 16 and February 20.
After the swap, the wallets became active again and moved funds to two newly created addresses. One wallet reportedly shares a Binance deposit address connected to a user known as Garrett Jin.
Jin operates on X under the handle @BitcoinOG1011short, according to on-chain researchers. He reportedly sold 261,024 ETH worth $543 million on February 15.
A further 11,318 BTC, valued at $761 million, was sold on February 20. Those dates closely match when the traced wallets withdrew stablecoins from Binance.
These findings have not been officially confirmed by any authority or exchange. The tracing is based entirely on publicly available blockchain data and remains circumstantial.
No formal accusation has been made against Garrett Jin at this stage. Independent researchers continue to monitor the linked wallets for further activity.
The decision to use a retail swap interface rather than an OTC desk raises practical questions. Experienced participants managing hundreds of millions typically avoid standard market interfaces for large trades.
A $50 million market swap on a $1.8 billion FDV token is effectively guaranteed to cause severe price movement.
Whether the event was an error or a deliberate act remains unresolved. On-chain data provides transparency but does not confirm intent.
The crypto community continues to monitor wallet activity tied to the transaction. The $50M AAVE swap remains one of the most closely watched on-chain events of early 2025.
BlackRock’s digital assets head, Robert Mitchnick, said the $14 trillion asset manager won’t get too creative with the types of crypto exchange-traded funds it offers, even as it launched a staking-focused Ether ETF on Thursday.
Speaking on CNBC’s Crypto World segment on Friday, Mitchnick acknowledged that some of the crypto ETF structures that other asset managers are experimenting with may appeal to certain investors, but said BlackRock will continue to take a more measured approach:
“Will we see some more exotic structures coming into the space? I think no question,” Mitchnick said. “Some of those will be interesting. Some of them will resonate with investors.”
However, “We will take a discerning approach in thinking about where else we would expand in this.”
Mitchnick said that while overwhelming investor interest is in Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH), BlackRock is also seeing “pockets of interest in some of the other assets as well.”
“We continue to evaluate those as conditions evolve and as maturity, liquidity scale and use cases develop, but we take a very discerning approach in terms of what we would put in an iShares ETF.”
BlackRock launched the iShares Staked Ethereum Trust (ETHB) on Thursday, which saw over $15.5 million in trading volume and $43.5 million in inflows on debut, according to Farside Investors data.
ETHB enables investors to capture yield through Ethereum staking rewards on top of potential price appreciation in Ether’s price.
ETHB is BlackRock’s second Ether product, following the iShares Ethereum Trust ETF (ETHA), which has accumulated almost $12 billion worth of inflows since launching in July 2024.
BlackRock has a Bitcoin income-generating ETF in the works
BlackRock is also looking to offer a Bitcoin Premium Income ETF, which would sell covered call options on Bitcoin futures, collecting premiums to generate yield.
The regular distributions to investors would, however, trade away potential upside from investing in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust ETH (IBIT), which mirrors Bitcoin’s spot price.
Related: Bitcoin ETFs add $251M as Goldman Sachs tops XRP ETF holders
Speaking of IBIT, Mitchnick noted that investors of BlackRock’s flagship Bitcoin product have been “disproportionately long-term buy and hold” investors —even when there’s been strong selling pressure elsewhere in the Bitcoin ecosystem.
“They’ve tended to opportunistically buy the dips,” Mitchnick said of the investors in IBIT, which has taken in over $63 billion worth of inflows since launching in January 2024.
Magazine: Bitcoin’s ‘narrative vacuum,’ Ethereum now inevitable: Trade Secrets
TLDR:
- ISO formally published blockchain interoperability standard 82098 after nearly a decade of international collaboration.
- Quant CEO Gilbert Verdian chaired Working Group 7, the ISO committee that developed the interoperability framework.
- The standard uses a multi-gateway architecture, enabling any DLT to connect with another without protocol changes.
- Quant’s Overledger platform was built on the same architectural principles that shaped the published ISO standard.
Blockchain interoperability has reached a major milestone with the formal publication of an ISO standard. Gilbert Verdian, CEO of Quant, announced the development on social media after a decade of dedicated work.
The standard traces its roots to a 2016 proposal that aimed to resolve fragmentation, limiting blockchain adoption.
It caps years of international collaboration through ISO Technical Committee 307. Verdian helped establish the committee from the ground up, beginning in 2015.
From a Blog Post to a Published ISO Standard
The path to this standard began in April 2016 with a bold public proposal. Verdian’s team published what they described as the world’s first blockchain standard proposal. That post outlined a vision for a common framework transcending any single protocol or vendor.
That same year, Verdian partnered with Standards Australia to advance the initiative internationally. Together, they pressed ISO to create a dedicated technical committee for blockchain technology.
Their argument was clear: blockchain warranted its own global standards programme, not absorption into an existing one.
In September 2016, ISO’s New Work Item Proposal received global approval. TC 307 — Blockchain and Electronic Distributed Ledger Technologies — was formally established.
Its inaugural meeting took place in Sydney in April 2017, and the detailed technical work started from that point.
The Multi-Gateway Architecture Behind the Standard
Central to the standard’s design is the principle of multi-gateway architecture. This approach holds that interoperability should not depend on a single bridge or point-to-point connection. Instead, a layered gateway model abstracts differences between underlying distributed ledger technologies.
The architecture enables any DLT to communicate with any other DLT through a common interface. It also connects to existing networks without requiring changes to how individual ledgers function.
This protocol-agnostic, “any-to-any” design became the technical and philosophical core of the standard.
Verdian drew on over 20 years of cybersecurity experience when developing this framework. As he wrote on X, the standard and Quant’s technology “were born from the same insight.”
The two tracks — standards development and commercial building — ran side by side and mutually reinforced each other throughout.
Quant’s Role in Translating Standards Into Technology
As TC 307’s work progressed, Verdian’s company went through its own evolution. Remitt, originally a blockchain-focused financial services firm, was rebranded as Quant. The company then built Overledger, widely recognized as the world’s first blockchain operating system.
Overledger applies the same multi-gateway architecture that shaped Working Group 7’s contributions. It gives institutions a single integration point to access any DLT, any network, and any legacy system.
Both the commercial platform and the ISO standard address the same original problem of blockchain fragmentation.
Working Group 7, the interoperability committee chaired by Verdian, brought together experts from across the world.
For close to a decade, those contributors refined the standard through consensus and rigorous technical debate. The result is ISO standard 82098, now publicly available through the ISO website.
In his announcement, Verdian credited ISO, Standards Australia, and every expert who contributed to Working Group 7.
He also acknowledged that more standards remain to be developed and more technology to be built. For now, the publication marks the end of one chapter and the opening of the next.
Lawmakers said they will oversee the investigation to ensure authorities hold Binance accountable if sanctions violations are confirmed.
Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen, Elizabeth Warren, and Ruben Gallego confirmed that the United States Department of Justice is investigating whether crypto exchange Binance violated US sanctions laws by facilitating billions of dollars in transactions linked to Iran and entities associated with terrorism.
The lawmakers, all members of the United States Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, said the probe comes after their earlier request urging US authorities to examine the exchange’s compliance with sanctions regulations.
DOJ’s Binance Investigation
In a joint statement, the senators said the reported activity raises concerns that Binance may have helped enable financial flows connected to Iranian actors and their proxies despite existing restrictions under US law. They also accused the company of previously prioritizing profits over legal compliance and said the latest reports indicate the exchange could again be operating in ways that undermine sanctions enforcement.
The lawmakers added that they plan to conduct oversight to ensure the Justice Department carries out a thorough investigation and holds the company accountable if violations are confirmed.
Earlier this week, The Wall Street Journal reported that the Department of Justice had started investigating whether Iran had used Binance to evade American sanctions. Binance pushed back against the allegations, while arguing that the media reports referenced in the Senate contain “false, unsupported, and defamatory claims.” Subsequent reports indicated that the exchange has filed a defamation lawsuit against the WSJ over the initial article that the publication released in late February.
Calls for Bipartisan Collaboration
While Binance has not yet released a statement regarding the development, it had previously noted that the federal courts in both the Southern District of New York and the Northern District of Alabama dismissed anti-terrorism claims brought against founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao by hundreds of plaintiffs. The exchange said that it remains fully committed to working collaboratively to enforce sanctions laws without compromise, and went on to add,
“Looking forward to collaborating with both Democrats and Republicans on this.”
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TLDR:
- ASTER price has remained in a tight consolidation range between $0.67 and $0.74 for over a month despite broader crypto market weakness.
- A major resistance zone between $0.75 and $0.80 continues to cap upward momentum, with sellers defending the level on multiple attempts.
- The October 2025 liquidation event wiped out roughly $12.43 million in leveraged positions, largely resetting long exposure in the derivatives market.
- Binance dominates ASTER futures trading, leading both daily volume and trade count while major exchanges hold significant open interest.
ASTER price continues trading in a narrow range after earlier volatility shook leveraged traders. The asset moves sideways while many cryptocurrencies decline, keeping attention on a resistance area near $0.80.
Market Stability Emerges After Earlier Decline
The ASTER price entered a consolidation after a sharp decline earlier in the market cycle. That drop triggered forced liquidations and removed a large portion of leveraged long exposure.
Since then, the asset has traded between roughly $0.67 and $0.74. The narrow range has remained intact for more than a month.
Market observers pointed to this behavior in recent commentary online. A widely circulated post stated that the asset outperformed the broader market by simply moving sideways.
The comment came from a tweet published by Nebraskangooner. The post noted that prolonged sideways trading can signal relative strength during weak market conditions.
Resistance Zone Continues To Limit Upward Moves
The consolidation range sits directly below a clear technical resistance zone. That area forms between approximately $0.75 and $0.80 on the trading chart.
The region previously provided support before the earlier breakdown. Market structure shifted when that support level turned into overhead resistance.
Price has approached that band several times during the consolidation period. Each attempt was met with resistance as sellers defended the level.
Despite the resistance, the asset has not moved sharply lower. Buyers continue to hold positions near the upper part of the range.
Liquidation Event Reset Leveraged Positions
Derivatives market data show a large liquidation event in October 2025. At that time of writing, ASTER price traded near $1.1575 before selling pressure increased.
Total liquidations reached approximately $12.43 million during that period. Long positions accounted for about $10.15 million of those liquidations.
The forced closures triggered a rapid decline in market price. The cascade occurred as leveraged traders failed to meet margin requirements.
Exchange data shows strong participation from major derivatives platforms. Binance and Bybit accounted for a large share of the liquidated positions.
Derivatives Activity Remains Concentrated On Major Exchanges
As of writing, derivatives metrics show large open interest across multiple trading platforms. The Aster exchange records the largest open interest near $120.98 million.
Binance follows with open interest close to $84.61 million. Hyperliquid holds the third position with roughly $60.23 million.
Trading activity remains concentrated on a few exchanges. Binance leads daily trading volume with roughly $69.97 million.
Futures trade count also favors the same platform. Binance processes more than 867,000 ASTER futures trades, exceeding activity on other exchanges.
TLDR:
- HyperCore removed 22,477 HYPE from circulation on March 13 alone, exceeding staking rewards issued that day
- At the current pace, roughly 8.09 million HYPE tokens will exit circulation over the next 12 months
- Solana inflates by ~25.19M SOL yearly; Hyperliquid’s model is moving in the exact opposite direction
- Buyback volume scales with HIP-3 trading activity, linking protocol growth directly to token supply reduction
Hyperliquid’s HYPE token is now shrinking in supply, not growing. On March 13, 2026, HyperCore repurchased 49,323 HYPE tokens at roughly $37.12 each.
That same day, only 26,846 HYPE went out as staking and validator rewards. The net result: 22,477 tokens permanently removed from circulation in a single day.
HyperCore Buybacks Push HYPE Into Deflationary Territory
The numbers are straightforward. Buybacks exceeded distributions by over 22,000 tokens on March 13. At that pace, monthly removal reaches 674,310 HYPE. Annualized, that projects to roughly 8.09 million tokens leaving circulation each year.
That stands in sharp contrast to Solana. Solana’s staking and validator system inflates supply by approximately 25.19 million SOL annually. Hyperliquid is moving in the opposite direction entirely.
The buyback mechanism is also price-sensitive by design. When HYPE trades higher, each dollar buys fewer tokens. When prices fall, buybacks become more aggressive. This creates a natural counterweight to supply pressure during market downturns.
HyperCore funds buybacks using protocol revenue. That revenue flows primarily from trading activity across the network. More trades mean more fees, and more fees mean larger buybacks.
Protocol Revenue and HIP-3 Adoption Drive the Buyback Flywheel
The structure here matters. HIP-3 adoption feeds directly into trading volume. Higher volume generates more protocol revenue. That revenue funds the repurchase program. Larger repurchases deepen the deflationary effect.
According to data shared by Hyperliquid Hub on X, the March 13 buyback alone removed tens of thousands of tokens in one session. That is not a one-time event. It reflects an ongoing mechanical process tied to network usage.
Validators and stakers received 26,846 HYPE that day across 24 validators. That distribution is the only outflow in the equation. Everything repurchased beyond that figure is gone from the circulating supply permanently.
The buyback-to-reward ratio now favors deflation. That ratio can shift with price and volume. But the current trajectory shows a supply curve bending downward.
No other major layer-1 network is running this kind of structure at scale right now. The data from March 13 makes that clear.
TLDR:
- TON cancels Dubai event scheduled for May 1–2, citing safety concerns tied to the ongoing Middle East conflict.
- TOKEN2049 postponed its Dubai conference to April 2027 due to regional uncertainty and travel disruptions.
- TON Gateway ticket holders will receive full refunds within 14 days following the cancellation.
- TOKEN2049 attendees can keep tickets for 2027 or transfer them to the Singapore conference this year
TON cancels Dubai event scheduled for May after escalating Middle East tensions raised safety concerns in the United Arab Emirates. Organizers confirmed the cancellation as regional attacks triggered travel disruptions and uncertainty for international crypto conference participants.
TON Cancels Dubai Event Over Security Concerns
TON cancels Dubai event planned for May 1 and May 2, 2026. Organizers cited security risks linked to the escalating Middle East conflict.
The Open Network shared the decision in a post on X. The organization stated that safety conditions in the region required canceling the conference.
“Unfortunately, due to the Middle East conflict and safety conditions in the UAE area, we have made the decision to cancel Gateway Dubai,” the statement said.
Gateway Dubai was designed to gather developers and builders working within the TON ecosystem. The event aimed to encourage collaboration across projects and teams.
Dubai remains a major destination for blockchain conferences and technology investors. However, recent military developments changed the regional security outlook.
Following strikes by the United States and Israel against Iran, retaliatory missile and drone attacks targeted the United Arab Emirates.
Reports indicated the UAE received a large share of the strikes during the exchange. Analysts linked the attacks to the country’s close cooperation with Western partners.
Travel disruptions soon followed across several Middle Eastern cities. Airlines adjusted schedules while many travelers reconsidered regional visits.
TON organizers acknowledged that many participants had already planned their travel. They said the cancellation decision came after reviewing the evolving situation.
Despite the cancellation, the TON team said it may organize another Gateway event later this year using a different format.
Participants who purchased tickets for the conference will receive refunds within fourteen days.
TOKEN2049 Postpones Dubai Conference Until 2027
Regional tensions also affected another major crypto gathering in Dubai. TOKEN2049 announced that its Dubai conference will not take place this year.
The organizers confirmed the update through a post shared on X. The event had been scheduled for April 29 and April 30.
“In collaboration with our partners and stakeholders, and in light of ongoing uncertainty in the region, TOKEN2049 Dubai will be postponed,” the announcement stated.
The conference will now take place on April 21 and April 22, 2027. Organizers said the change allows time for regional stability to improve.
TOKEN2049 usually attracts global blockchain founders, investors, and technology executives. The Dubai event was expected to host several well-known speakers.
Scheduled participants included Polymarket founder Shayne Coplan. Tether chief executive Paolo Ardoino and Circle co-founder Jeremy Allaire were also listed.
Attendees who purchased tickets will have multiple options following the postponement. They may keep their tickets for the 2027 conference.
Participants may also transfer their tickets to the TOKEN2049 Singapore event scheduled later this year.
Ticket prices for the Dubai conference ranged from $699 for early access. Standard passes reached $1,499, while premium packages cost $5,999.
Organizers encouraged attendees with travel bookings to contact airlines and hotels to modify reservations.
Crypto World
Bitcoin can survive 72% of the world’s submarine cables being cut, but a targeted attack on five hosting providers could cripple it
Bitcoin’s network has been running nonstop since 2009. The question nobody had rigorously answered until now is what it would actually take to break it.
Researchers at the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance last week published the first longitudinal study of Bitcoin blockchain’s resilience to physical infrastructure disruption, analyzing 11 years of peer-to-peer network data against 68 verified submarine cable fault events.
The headline finding is that between 72% and 92% of the world’s inter-country submarine cables would need to fail simultaneously before Bitcoin experiences significant node disconnection.
In a world where the Strait of Hormuz is currently disrupted and infrastructure vulnerability is front of mind, the study provides the first empirical benchmark for how hard Bitcoin actually is to knock offline.
The numbers tell a story of a network that degrades gracefully rather than collapsing catastrophically. The researchers ran 1,000 Monte Carlo simulations per scenario across the full dataset and found that random cable failures barely register.
Over 87% of the 68 real-world cable fault events they studied caused less than 5% node impact. The largest single event, when seabed disturbances off Côte d’Ivoire damaged 7-8 cables simultaneously in March 2024, knocked out 43% of regional nodes but affected only 5-7 bitcoin nodes globally, roughly 0.03% of the network.
The correlation between cable failures and bitcoin’s price was essentially zero, at -0.02. Infrastructure disruptions are invisible against daily price volatility.
But the paper’s most important finding is the asymmetry between random and targeted attacks.
While random cable failures require 72-92% removal to cause damage, a targeted attack on the cables with the highest betweenness centrality, the ones that serve as chokepoints between continents, drops that threshold to 20%.
And targeting the top five hosting providers by node count, Hetzner, OVH, Comcast, Amazon, and Google Cloud, requires removing just 5% of routing capacity to achieve the same impact.
That’s a fundamentally different threat model. Random failures are acts of nature. Targeted attacks are acts of state, coordinated regulatory shutdowns of hosting providers or deliberate severing of critical cable routes. The study essentially maps two very different adversaries: one Bitcoin can easily survive, and one that remains a credible risk.
How threats to bitcoin change over time
The paper tracks how resilience evolved over time, and the trajectory isn’t a straight line. Bitcoin was most resilient in its early years from 2014-2017, when the network was geographically diverse and the critical failure threshold sat around 0.90-0.92.
Resilience declined sharply during 2018-2021 as the network grew rapidly but concentrated geographically, hitting its lowest point of 0.72 in 2021 during peak mining concentration in East Asia. The China mining ban in 2021 forced redistribution, and resilience partially recovered to 0.88 in 2022 before settling at 0.78 in 2025.
The TOR finding is the one that challenges conventional thinking. As of 2025, 64% of Bitcoin nodes use TOR, making their physical location unobservable.
The assumption has been that this inability to observe might hide fragility, that if TOR nodes turned out to be geographically concentrated, the network could be more vulnerable than it appears.
The Cambridge researchers built a four-layer model to test this and found the opposite. TOR relay infrastructure is heavily concentrated in Germany, France, and the Netherlands, countries with extensive submarine cable and land border connectivity.
An attacker trying to disrupt TOR relay capacity by cutting cables faces a compound problem because those countries are among the hardest to disconnect. The four-layer model consistently showed higher resilience than the clearnet-only baseline, with TOR adding between 0.02 and 0.10 to the critical failure threshold.
The paper frames this as “adaptive self-organization.” TOR adoption surged after censorship events like Iran’s internet shutdown in 2019, the Myanmar coup in 2021, and the China mining ban.
The Bitcoin community shifted toward censorship-resistant infrastructure without any central coordination, and that shift happened to also make the network physically harder to disrupt.
With the Strait of Hormuz effectively closed and a regional war disrupting infrastructure across the Middle East, the question of what happens to Bitcoin if submarine cables get damaged isn’t theoretical.
The study suggests the answer is probably nothing, unless someone is deliberately targeting the specific cables and hosting providers that matter most.
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