Layer 1 protocol Saga suffered a security exploit on its SagaEVM chain, draining nearly $7 million and prompting the project to pause the network. At the same time, it finalizes its investigation and remediation efforts, according to a blog post.

According to on-chain analysis, the attacker minted Saga Dollar (D) tokens without collateral, bridged the assets to Ethereum, and converted much of them into over 2,000 ETH valued at more than $6 million, with an additional $800,000 deployed into Uniswap V4 liquidity positions.

Saga halted the SagaEVM chain once it identified the incident on January 21 and has kept the chain stopped “out of an abundance of caution” while it assesses the full scope of the exploit, addresses the vulnerability, and reinforces overall system security.

SagaEVM remains paused while we finalize the results of our investigation into the Jan 21 exploit.

We’re working with partners on remediation and will publish a post-mortem once findings are fully validated. $7M of USDC was bridged out and converted to ETH.

Extracted funds were…

— Saga ⛋ (@Sagaxyz__) January 22, 2026

“We’re working with partners on remediation and will publish a post-mortem once findings are fully validated,” Saga said. 

The team acknowledged that suspending the chain is disruptive for users but emphasized that protecting the community’s funds and the protocol’s integrity takes priority. Saga said it will release a detailed technical post-mortem once remediation steps are finished and its conclusions are fully verified.

Protocol Working To Blacklist The Attacker

According to Saga, it has identified the wallet that received the extracted assets.

Saga is coordinating with exchanges and bridge operators to blacklist the attacker’s address in an effort to limit the movement of the stolen funds and support any potential recovery measures. The team is also conducting a forensic analysis using archive data and execution traces to reconstruct the attack path.

Saga said the incident did not affect its broader infrastructure, including the SSC mainnet or core consensus layer, and found no evidence of validator compromise, consensus failure, or leaked signer keys.

The attack comes at a time when there is a prevalence of crypto exploits, with data from Chainalysis saying that losses have been more than $3.41 billion in 2025.

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TLDR

• MSTR shares fell by 8% today as Bitcoin dropped to its lowest level in a year.
• The decline in Bitcoin below key technical levels caused significant losses in crypto-linked stocks.
• Despite unrealized losses from Bitcoin’s price drop, MSTR continues to hold and buy more Bitcoin.
• Chairman Michael Saylor confirmed that Strategy will keep accumulating Bitcoin even during market downturns.
• MSTR’s recent Bitcoin purchase was funded through the sale of common stock to support its crypto strategy.

Shares of Strategy (MSTR) fell by over 8% today, driven by a sharp decline in Bitcoin prices. The cryptocurrency dropped to its lowest point in a year, affecting crypto-related stocks. This setback extended the downward trend that has plagued MSTR for months.

Bitcoin Slips Below Key Thresholds

Bitcoin saw a significant drop, falling below important technical levels over the weekend and early this week. The drop in Bitcoin’s value rippled across the market, particularly impacting shares tied to crypto. MSTR’s shares were among the hardest hit, continuing a longer-term slide.

As Bitcoin dipped below $75,000, other major crypto platforms like Robinhood and Circle also saw losses. The correlation between Bitcoin’s price and the performance of crypto stocks remains strong, highlighting the market’s sensitivity. As Bitcoin’s price slipped below key support levels, MSTR’s stock felt the pressure, extending its losses.

Strategy Inc, MSTR

MSTR Grapples with Unrealized Losses

Strategy holds over 713,000 Bitcoins, which were purchased at an average price of $76,000 per coin. The recent drop in Bitcoin’s price has resulted in unrealized losses for the company. Despite these challenges, Strategy has made it clear it won’t sell its Bitcoin holdings.

Chairman Michael Saylor reaffirmed the company’s long-term strategy. “We will continue to accumulate Bitcoin, even in a weak market,” Saylor said. This approach has been a consistent theme for the company, as they see Bitcoin as a key asset despite short-term losses.

Earlier this week, Strategy acquired 855 additional Bitcoins for $75.3 million. The purchase was made at an average price of $87,974 per coin, just before Bitcoin’s price dropped below $75,000. The company’s Bitcoin holdings now total 713,502 BTC, with an average cost of $76,052 per coin.

Strategy’s Ongoing Capital-Raising Approach

Strategy has funded recent Bitcoin purchases through stock sales, continuing its capital-raising efforts. Last week’s Bitcoin purchase was smaller than previous buys, but still part of the company’s strategy to expand its crypto holdings. Despite Bitcoin’s recent slump, Strategy remains committed to increasing its Bitcoin position.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin’s price stands below $74,000, marking its lowest level in a year. This drop follows a retreat of more than 40% from Bitcoin’s all-time highs. MSTR’s shares have followed the trend, now trading at $128.87, down from their 52-week high of $450 per share.

New York — WisdomTree’s crypto business is no longer an experiment but core to the firm’s strategy and on the verge of turning profitable, CEO Jonathan Steinberg said in a fireside chat at the Ondo Summit in New York on Tuesday.

“We want to continue to scale,” Steinberg said. “Last year, we went from like $30 million in assets to about $750 million in assets,” adding that he firm doesn’t currently make money on its digital asset efforts but is “in line of sight of taking this to a profitable business.”

The firm, $150 billion in assets under management, has been investing heavily in blockchain infrastructure, launching tokenized funds, and expanding to new chains like Solana SOL$98.18. Steinberg said the effort is driven by long-term conviction. “It’s still early days, but it’s not an experiment now. We have conviction. So we believe eventually everything will go on chain.”

It’s not hard to see why WisdomTree has been pushing further with digital assets. Most recently, during its earnings presentation, it said its total WisdomTree tokenized AUM grew to $770 million, up 25x from 2024.

WisdomTree has taken an aggressive, early lead among traditional asset managers in digital assets, launching a suite of tokenized funds and recently expanding distribution via WisdomTree Connect, which enables those assets to move across self-custodied wallets and institutional platforms.

The firm also made a strategic bet on blockchain infrastructure by acquiring Securrency, a compliance-focused tokenization company, which it later sold to the DTCC. Steinberg said that move was a foundational step in enabling “compliance-aware tokens” and programmable finance, helping WisdomTree build a long-term, interoperable digital asset strategy.

For Steinberg, crypto represents more than a product opportunity — it’s a new financial infrastructure. “Really, this is bigger than asset management. This is really about financial services,” he said. “Financial services — some of these banks go back a couple of centuries. So they built on legacy, on top of legacy, on top of legacy. There is that modernization that has to happen.”

As for WisdomTree’s ambitions? “We just want to continue to scale what we’re doing,” Steinberg said.

Multi-chain and Layer-2 DEX platforms do not fail because of weak ideas. They fail because liquidity fragments, execution slows under load, and security assumptions break as complexity increases. In 2026, serious DeFi development is no longer about deploying smart contracts. It is about engineering liquidity flow, Layer-2 execution, and composability security as a single system that can perform under real trading demand.

This guide reveals the DeFi development strategies behind high-performance multi-chain DEX platforms. It explains how a strategy-led approach helps protocols scale liquidity, execution, and security without breaking as usage grows.

Why DeFi Development Is No Longer About Smart Contracts Alone

In the early years of decentralized finance, deploying smart contracts was the core task. Write the logic, run a few audits, and launch. Today, the DeFi landscape is far more complex, with DEX platforms sitting at the center of how liquidity, execution, and capital actually move across chains.

The global DeFi ecosystem now holds an estimated $130–140 billion in TVL across all chains in early 2026, reflecting renewed market confidence and growing institutional participation. A significant share of this activity flows through decentralized exchanges, making DEX performance a direct measure of DeFi infrastructure maturity, especially in multi-chain and Layer-2 environments. More than liquidity inflows drive this growth. Lending protocols account for over 21% of DeFi TVL, while DEX platforms process high-frequency trading across chains and rollups. Together, they highlight a shift toward full-scale financial infrastructure rather than isolated contracts.

DeFi today operates in an environment where:

• Liquidity must be engineered for capital efficiency across multi-chain DEXs
• Layer-2 execution must deliver real performance under trading load
• Composability increases both opportunity and systemic risk
• Institutions demand predictable, production-grade DEX infrastructure

In this context, a smart contract that simply compiles and passes an audit is no longer enough. Modern DeFi development must be system-level, combining liquidity design, execution logic, cross-chain coordination, and security that holds up where stress appears first on DEX platforms.

This is the real shift: from launching contracts that work to building multi-chain and Layer-2 DEX infrastructure that performs reliably under scale.

How Advanced DeFi Development Solves the Real Scaling Challenges

At scale, DeFi development is no longer about isolated features or one-off smart contracts. It is about solving interconnected infrastructure challenges that directly determine whether a DeFi platform can support real liquidity, real trading volume, and real users.

For multi-chain and Layer-2 DEX platforms, these challenges surface first and with the highest impact. The table below highlights the three core problem areas every serious DeFi platform must address and how strategy-led DeFi development approaches them as a unified system.

Find out what will break first in your multi-chain DeFi platform.

Why This Table Matters for DeFi Decision-Makers

These challenges do not exist independently.

• Liquidity design affects execution.
• Execution affects security.
• Security failures destroy liquidity.

For DEX platforms, this feedback loop is immediate. Weak DeFi architecture shows up first in pricing inefficiencies, failed trades, degraded UX, and loss of capital confidence.

This is why an experienced DeFi development company does not treat these as separate implementation tasks. Instead, it approaches DeFi development as a single system problem, designing liquidity flow, execution layers, and security controls together to ensure DEX platforms can scale across chains and Layer-2s without breaking under real market pressure.

The Five Strategic Pillars of Scalable DeFi Development

At scale, DeFi development services require a system-level approach. Liquidity flow, execution layers, security controls, and capital efficiency are deeply interdependent. For multi-chain and Layer-2 DEX platforms, these pillars determine whether the protocol scales smoothly or collapses under its own complexity.

The following pillars outline how advanced DeFi development brings these elements together into a cohesive, production-ready system.

Strategic Pillar 1: Liquidity-Centric Design

In multi-chain environments, liquidity naturally fragments. Weak DeFi development amplifies this problem, leading to:

• Shallow pools that fail under real trading volume
• Inconsistent pricing across chains and DEX deployments
• Increased slippage for traders
• Poor capital efficiency for liquidity providers

Advanced Development Approach

• Unified liquidity routing across chains and DEX instances
• Incentive models aligned to liquidity depth, not just deposits
• Architecture that minimizes idle or stranded capital

This is where a seasoned DeFi development company differentiates itself. Not by deploying more pools, but by engineering liquidity behavior as a first-class design priority for DEX performance.

Strategic Pillar 2: Layer-2 Execution Design

Layer-2 networks reduce cost, but they do not automatically improve performance. Poorly planned Layer-2 integrations introduce:

• Latency between execution and settlement on DEX trades
• Unnecessary UX complexity for users
• Fragmented balances across chains and rollups

What Advanced Development Solves

• Rollup-aware execution logic optimized for DEX throughput
• Predictable settlement and withdrawal flows
• Gas abstraction without compromising security

Layer-2 adoption only works when performance gains are clearly visible to traders and liquidity providers. This level of execution planning sits at the core of professional DeFi development services, especially for high-volume DEX platforms.

Strategic Pillar 3: Composability Security

Composable finance is powerful and unforgiving. As DeFi platforms integrate:

• Staking modules
• Liquidity incentive mechanisms
• Bridges
• External protocols

The attack surface multiplies rapidly, with DEX platforms often absorbing the impact first.

Advanced Development Strategy

• Modular smart contract design with isolation boundaries
• Timelocks and controlled upgrade paths
• Economic exploit modeling beyond standard code audits

Security is not a checkbox. It is an architectural discipline embedded in DeFi development solutions from day one.

Strategic Pillar 4: Capital Efficiency Focus

TVL no longer impresses experienced builders or serious investors. Capital efficiency does. Modern DeFi development prioritizes:

• Lower collateral requirements
• Improved utilization of liquidity
• Reduced slippage under high trading load

Efficient capital usage directly affects:

• Trader retention on DEX platforms
• Liquidity provider loyalty
• Long-term protocol sustainability

This is where strategy-led DeFi development consistently outperforms feature-led builds.

Strategic Pillar 5: Multi-Chain Coherence

Multi-chain expansion is inevitable, but unmanaged expansion becomes a liability. Advanced DeFi development ensures:

• Consistent protocol logic across chains and DEX deployments
• Secure and predictable cross-chain messaging
• Operational clarity for upgrades and governance

Multi-chain success is not about how many networks a protocol deploys on. It is about how coherently the DeFi system and its DEX platforms behave across all of them.

Why Strategy-Led DeFi Development Wins at Scale

Many DeFi platforms fail not because they lack innovation, but because:

• Architectural trade-offs were ignored during early design decisions
• Scale assumptions were based on theory rather than real usage patterns
• Security was reactive, not proactive, and addressed only after growth

For DEX platforms, these missteps surface quickly once real trading volume, cross-chain liquidity, and Layer-2 execution come into play.

Advanced DeFi development replaces guesswork with intentional design and long-term thinking. Instead of optimizing only for speed of launch, it prioritizes durability under pressure, predictability under load, and resilience as complexity increases.

It forces teams to ask:

• What breaks first when transaction volume increases on DEX platforms?
• Where liquidity becomes inefficient as usage spreads across chains and Layer-2s?
• How do protocol upgrades affect traders, liquidity providers, and locked capital?

This mindset is critical for multi-chain and Layer-2 DEXs, where DeFi complexity is concentrated and amplified. Protocols built without architectural foresight struggle as liquidity fragments, execution paths multiply, and security assumptions weaken. In contrast, strategy-led DeFi development enables DEX platforms to scale across chains and execution layers without breaking under success.

Final Takeaway for Decision-Makers

At this point, the choice is clear. Scalable success in DeFi is no longer driven by fast launches or isolated smart contracts. It is driven by strategy-led DeFi development that can support multi-chain complexity, Layer-2 execution, and DEX performance under real market pressure. Founders and CTOs who get this right early avoid costly rewrites, liquidity fragmentation, and security failures later. That is why choosing the right DeFi development company is a strategic decision, not a technical one. Antier is trusted by global teams for delivering enterprise-grade DeFi development services and end-to-end DeFi development solutions that are designed to scale securely across chains and execution layers.

Ready to Move Forward?

If you are serious about building or scaling a DEX-focused DeFi platform, talk to Antier’s DeFi architects and get clarity before complexity compounds. Start your DeFi development journey with Antier today.

Here are the latest and most important news related to Pi Network’s ecosystem.

Pi Network recently tumbled to a new all-time low, coinciding with the broader market decline.

In the meantime, the project team and community members have recently announced several key updates and warnings. In the following sections, we will focus on the most important ones.

Unblocking Millions of Users

Pi Network has been criticized for several reasons over the past several months, and its complex and controversial know-your-customer (KYC) procedures are among them. Numerous users (known as Pioneers) have reported that they cannot complete the required verification process and migrate to the Mainnet.

Earlier this week, the Core Team revealed that nearly 2.5 million people in certain regions will be unblocked by a new technical update, assuming they have passed the Mainnet checklist and are active in mining.

“Over 700,000 additional accounts can also soon submit KYC applications! With these updates, more people are able to participate in the Mainnet ecosystem. Pi has reached 16 million Mainnet migrated Pioneers overall, distinguishing Pi as a massive identity-verified blockchain. Complete your KYC and Mainnet Checklist steps as needed to ensure your account is prepared for the next steps,” the announcement reads.

The team further explained that the unblocking occurs in batches because different Pioneer groups face various issues. Each group requires a specific technical solution, and once deployed, the affected users will be unblocked.

The Latest Scam Alert

Recently, a community member using the X handle PiNetwork DEX warned Pioneers to remain vigilant against a possible fraudulent scheme. According to the alert, an impersonation scam targets Pi Network users, specifically those who are identity holders on the Mainnet checklist.

“The Pi Network core team will never email you regarding wallet migration, nor will they ask for your passphrase. Like, share, and warn more people,” the message reads.

Pi Price Outlook

Pi Network’s native token has experienced a sharp decline over the past several months, and its condition has only worsened in the past few days. Recently, it plunged to a fresh all-time low of $0.15, whereas it currently trades at around $0.16, or a 7% drop on a weekly scale.

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Considering the upcoming token unlocks, there may be an additional short-term decline. Data shows that more than 215 million PI will be freed up in the next 30 days, giving investors the opportunity to offload holdings they have been waiting to receive. The average daily unlock is almost 7.2 million tokens, while the record day is February 13, when 23 million coins will be released.

Naturally, this isn’t guaranteed, but the “bullish unlocks” meme exists for a reason, and that reason is that unlocks are almost never bullish.

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) dipped below $73,000 on Tuesday as a confluence of tightening credit conditions and elevated debt costs test market nerves. The macro backdrop shows a paradox: credit spreads remain compressed even as debt levels and borrowing costs stay elevated, a dynamic some analysts say could define BTC’s trajectory over the coming months. In this environment, an intriguing pattern emerges: the gap between credit pricing and actual credit-market stress has become a potential predictor for Bitcoin’s next move, echoing how similar dislocations played out in prior cycles.

Key takeaways

• The ICE BofA US Corporate Option-Adjusted Spread is at 0.75, its lowest level since 1998.
• US debt stands at about $38.5 trillion, while the 10-year Treasury yield is hovering near 4.28%.
• Bitcoin whale inflows to exchanges have risen, but on-chain profit-taking is easing despite the higher turnover on centralized venues.
• Historical cycles show BTC often forms a local bottom several months after credit spreads widen, a pattern that could repeat if liquidity tightens further.
• Analysts have signaled that a renewed accumulation phase could unfold in the months ahead, potentially after a period of market stress becomes more visible.

Market context: The current setup places Bitcoin at a crossroads where tight credit conditions and escalating debt costs contrast with a risk-off tilt in broader markets. The macro backdrop remains complex: while spreads compress, signaling relatively contained credit risk by some measures, the debt burden and the path of yields continue to constrain liquidity and appetite for risk assets, including BTC. This divergence—cheap-ish credit against a backdrop of financial strain—has historically preceded pronounced price moves for Bitcoin, underscoring why market participants are watching the bond and credit markets as a leading indicator for crypto trajectories. For reference, the data point often cited is the ICE BofA Corporate OAS, which has been moving in a way that ties into Bitcoin’s price rhythms during stress episodes.

In previous cycles—2018, 2020 and 2022—Bitcoin tended to bottom after credit spreads began to widen, with the delay ranging roughly three to six months. The suggestion of a lag between financial-market stress and crypto-price bottoms has resurfaced as traders parse the current dislocation. Some analysts have argued that if liquidity tightens further and spreads rise, Bitcoin could enter another phase of accumulation before broader market stress becomes fully evident. For instance, commentary from Alphractal founder Joao Wedson highlighted the potential for an accumulation phase if liquidity conditions deteriorate and credit spreads widen in the months ahead, a scenario that could set the stage for a multi-month consolidation before fresh directional moves. Argued.

Bitcoin whale activity and on-chain dynamics

Over the past few days, on-chain data show a spat of activity that peers at broad selling pressure yet also hints at longer-term fatigue among holders. Analysts have observed intensified transfers of BTC from large wallets to centralized exchanges, including a notable spike when wallets holding more than 1,000 BTC deposited roughly 5,000 BTC on a single day—an amount that mirrors a similar spike seen in December. The pattern of inflows from high-value wallets has raised questions about near-term selling pressure, especially amid a broader market lull.

In parallel, a broader cohort—holders in the six- to twelve-month age category—also moved 5,000 BTC to exchanges, marking the largest inflow from this segment since early 2024. Yet despite these near-term inflows, a counterpoint is evident: long-term holder behavior appears less aggressive, with spending output profit ratio (SOPR) sliding toward 1, its lowest reading in a year as BTC tested a year-to-date low near $73,900.

The tension between supply-side selling signals and longer-term holder exhaustion is a focal point for traders trying to gauge whether price weakness will endure or consolidate into a base. SOPR’s retreat toward equilibrium suggests fatigue among sellers in the longer horizon, a sign that a more durable bottom might require additional macro catalysts or clearer liquidity signals. The data, including real-time movement patterns and on-chain profitability metrics, remains a key input for analysts weighing the likelihood of a new accumulation window amid ongoing macro stress.

In the broader lens, the trend of exchange inflows paired with mixed on-chain signals mirrors what happened in prior cycles: weakness in price often coincides with attempts at price discovery amid shifting risk sentiment. The bond market’s stress indicators—how spreads widen or compress—tend to precede or align with crypto-market inflection points in ways that traders have tracked for years. As yields remain elevated and debt continues to accrue, the path of least resistance for Bitcoin may hinge on whether liquidity tightens enough to widen credit spreads, thereby unlocking a new phase of accumulation that could endure into the latter half of the year.

Looking ahead, investors will be watching two intertwined channels: the projected movements in credit-spread dynamics, and the cash-flow environment that governs risk appetite more broadly. If spreads begin a sustained widening trend, and liquidity tightens toward the 1.5%–2% range in coming weeks and months, BTC could see more pronounced bottom-building dynamics. Conversely, if credit conditions stay contained while yields drift higher, the downside might be tempered, and the market could pivot toward a range-bound phase that emphasizes accumulation rather than rapid sell-offs. The narrative remains contingent on macro developments, but the structural data—ranging from the debt mountain to the nuanced behavior of large BTC holders—provides a framework for parsing the next leg of the BTC story.

Why it matters

The observed disconnect between credit pricing and underlying market stress matters because it feeds into a broader risk-management framework for crypto investors. When traditional markets signal rising caution through widening stress or tighter liquidity, crypto assets can behave as a leveraged proxy—at times drawing demand from hedging flows, at other times succumbing to capitulation. The current data set—debt totals, yield levels, and evolving on-chain activity—offers a lens into how Bitcoin might respond as macro signals evolve. For users and builders in the ecosystem, the takeaway is to monitor liquidity proxies alongside price action, recognizing that a sustained shift in credit conditions could precede meaningful regime changes for BTC and related assets.

At the same time, the data remind market participants that crypto markets are not isolated from macro forces. Central bank policy expectations, debt dynamics, and financial-market stress indicators continue to weave a complex tapestry that shapes capital allocation. Understanding these interconnections can help traders anticipate whether the coming months will favor accumulation, consolidation, or renewed volatility as global liquidity conditions adapt to shifting fiscal and monetary landscapes.

What to watch next

• Watch credit-spread movements toward the 1.5%–2% range through April, which could precede renewed BTC downside or a gradual bottoming process.
• Monitor the trajectory of US debt and the 10-year yield, especially any sustained retreats or surprises that could alter liquidity dynamics.
• Track on-chain SOPR levels and exchange-inflow patterns, especially among holders in the six- to twelve-month window, for signs of seller exhaustion or renewed demand.
• Look for a potential accumulation window after July 2026, as suggested by macro-cycle analyses that link credit stress to longer-term price basins.

Sources & verification

• ICE BofA US Corporate Option-Adjusted Spread data and related macro signals (BAMLC0A0CM) from the Federal Reserve’s data repository.
• U.S. debt levels and the 10-year Treasury yield data points reflecting the January-end totals and current yields.
• CryptoQuant insights on whale and holder activity and SOPR trends used to interpret near-term market dynamics.
• Analyst commentary on liquidity and bond-market stress scenarios that inform Bitcoin’s potential accumulation phase.

Market reaction and macro signals shaping BTC trajectory

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has moved to test new support near the lower end of its recent range as macro indicators paint a mixed picture for risk assets. The corporate credit market continues to offer a strange juxtaposition: spreads are tight on the surface, yet the debt landscape remains heavy, and yields persist in a tight corridor. This bifurcation creates a testing ground for BTC, where a failure to sustain prices could reflect broader risk-off dynamics, while a stabilization or rebound could indicate the onset of an accumulation period as liquidity conditions slowly improve, or at least stop deteriorating.

Historical context provides a framework for interpretation. In past cycles, periods of widening credit stress often preceded a trough in BTC prices by a few months, followed by a phase of quiet accumulation as investors waited for clearer macro direction. The present discussion centers on whether current signals will produce a similar pattern or whether a new regime will emerge where BTC acts more as a hedge against macro risk rather than a tradable risk-on asset. The ongoing debate among market observers highlights a spectrum of possible outcomes, with some arguing that the next leg could hinge on how the bond market absorbs liquidity stress, while others point to on-chain signals that may foretell a more durable bottom forming in the months ahead.

The conversation also touches upon practical implications for market participants. If liquidity tightens and spreads widen, Bitcoin could see renewed volatility as traders reposition portfolios to weather the stress. If, on the other hand, the stress signals abate and the price finds support, the market could shift toward gradual accumulation—a phase that has historically offered a quieter backdrop for long-term investors to build positions. The data and commentary from industry analysts keep bridging macro indicators with on-chain realities, providing a nuanced view of the evolving crypto-market landscape.

Failed blockchain adoption narratives and weak fee capture have undercut confidence in major crypto projects.

A prominent crypto analyst has detailed a list of factors driving the current market downturn while also outlining longer-term reasons for optimism.

The analysis, shared by Post Fiat founder Alex Good, also known as ‘goodalexander’ on February 3, 2026, comes as digital asset markets face their most bearish social sentiment in months and Bitcoin trades near nine-month lows.

Dissecting the Current Downturn

The industry observer presented eight bearish factors for the current slump, with the primary reason being the failure of major blockchain integration narratives to generate sustained value.

Examples include Arbitrum’s brief rally on a Robinhood announcement that later resulted in an in-house solution from the broker and Nasdaq’s use of private blockchains for on-chain trading instead of public ones.

The analyst noted that real fee capture for major layer-1 protocols has been low, with Solana’s daily fees falling to around $1 million from peaks above $24 million during the “Trump coin” frenzy.

Other factors include a macroeconomic focus on international equities, gold, and AI, which has drawn attention away from crypto. Good also suggested that the market has acted as a “Trump proxy,” performing well on pro-crypto policy expectations that have not fully materialized.

Furthermore, the expert pointed to structural market pressures, suggesting that if discounts on digital asset trusts (DATs) widen, activist investors could be incentivized to sell the underlying tokens, creating more downward pressure.

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Data supports this bearish view. According to market intelligence provider Santiment, “FUD has taken over social media” following Bitcoin’s 16% drop over the past week, with the firm calling it the most negative retail sentiment since November 2025.

Investment flows have also mirrored the gloom, considering data from CoinShares showed a $1.7 billion weekly outflow from digital asset investment products, with Bitcoin alone seeing $1.32 billion exit. Additionally, since hitting highs in October 2025, the sector has lost $73 billion in assets under management.

What Could Still Support Crypto Longer Term

Despite the sell-off, Good said there are still reasons for cautious optimism. He pointed to a more fragmented global order, rising debt, and the risk of wealth taxes as factors that could renew interest in fixed-supply assets.

He also argued that artificial intelligence may lead to higher unemployment rather than job creation, increasing pressure on central banks to ease policy, which has historically benefited scarce assets.

Other analysts have echoed the idea that the cycle is strained rather than broken. On February 2, Global Macro Investor founder Raoul Pal said Bitcoin’s decline reflects a U.S. liquidity drain tied to fiscal mechanics and a government shutdown, not a failed market structure. He argued that easing liquidity later in the year could change conditions, though near-term momentum remains weak.

However, as things stand, traders will need to monitor if Bitcoin can maintain its stability in the mid-$70,000 range. According to market watchers like Daan Crypto Trades, a sustained move back above $80,000 could calm markets, while another break lower would likely test sentiment again.

Indonesia is one of the fastest growing and most attractive markets for a crypto-enabled digital bank. Retail crypto activity, expanding youth adoption, and clearer regulatory direction are creating a window for disciplined, well-capitalized investors to capture market share quickly. For investors who demand precision, regulatory certainty, and defensible economics, a white label approach compresses time to market and reduces execution risk, while allowing you to control product, liquidity and customer economics.

Let us scroll to unpack the right white label digital banking model, the compliance guardrails, the minimum viable technical architecture, an ironclad day-by-day 7 day launch plan, and realistic cost bands.

Market Opportunity in Indonesia

Indonesia is now a top regional crypto market, with rapid user growth and sizable transaction volumes that justify a dedicated neo-banking product with embedded crypto rails. The number of crypto asset holders in Indonesia surpassed 19 million in late 2025, and annual transaction values have been measured in the hundreds of trillions of rupiah, demonstrating both depth and recurring transaction velocity. Consumer demand is concentrated in retail trading, payments on-ramps, and young demographics under 30 who prefer mobile-first financial products.

On the infrastructure side, local banks and payment rails are open to partnerships for virtual accounts and card programs, which reduces clearing friction. For investors, this means a realistic path to scale user acquisition through seamless fiat on-ramps, card spend conversions, and margin capture via FX and trading spreads. The macro picture supports a focused investment in a compliant, white label neo-bank app that combines fiat wallets, crypto custody, and payment rails under one product umbrella.

Regulatory Landscape and What Changed Recently?

The most important development for investors is regulatory clarity. Indonesia has transitioned crypto assets from a pure commodity classification toward financial sector oversight. Supervision responsibilities now align more closely with financial regulators, particularly the Financial Services Authority and Bank Indonesia. This shift increases compliance expectations, but it significantly reduces ambiguity.

For builders and investors, this means that crypto-friendly neo banking solutions must be designed with financial-grade controls from day one. Custody models, AML workflows, transaction monitoring, reporting mechanisms, and auditability are no longer optional or loosely interpreted. However, the benefit is predictability. Regulatory expectations are clearer, enforcement pathways are defined, and compliant operators gain long-term defensibility.

Importantly, this environment favors structured, institutionally designed platforms over informal or lightly governed products. Investors who prioritize compliance-first architecture are better positioned to scale without disruption, regulatory pauses, or forced redesigns.

Which crypto neo-bank model fits Indonesia best?

Indonesia is a retail-driven market with large mobile adoption and growing regulatory clarity. That combination favors a pragmatic operating model that lets investors own customer economics while relying on licensed financial partners for settlement and prudential controls. The white label neo bank platform must be designed to give you speed to market, auditability, and the levers to capture revenue in a defensible way.

• Operate as a sponsored neo bank that uses a licensed bank or licensed e-money institution for IDR settlement and reconciliation.
  
• Host customer-facing apps and the ledger on a white-label core that exposes modular APIs for accounts, cards, KYC, and reporting.
  
• Start Day-1 with a custodial custody model provided by a certified custodian using MPC or HSM key protection and an attestation package.
  
• Separate hot operational wallets from cold reserve storage and enforce automated reconciliations between ledger balances and custody positions every day.
  
• Implement tiered KYC that matches sponsor bank risk appetite and regulatory thresholds, and block transactional privileges until required KYC is complete.
  
• Offer a deliberately small initial asset set chosen for regulatory clarity and commercial demand, with a controlled governance process for adding tokens.
  
• Provide IDR rails via virtual accounts or API-driven payment rails supplied by the sponsor bank, so treasury and settlement are auditable.
  
• Monetize through card interchange and card product journeys, trading spreads on buy and sell flows, wallet float and interest mechanics, and premium subscription services.
  
• Embed a real-time AML rules engine and case management console that creates investigator-ready artifacts for each flagged event.
  
• Require vendor SLAs that include audit support, regular penetration testing evidence, and clear liability allocation for custody and settlement failures.
  
• Design for horizontal scale from the outset with a microservice ledger, API gateway, and full observability for tracing and alerting.
  
• Gate higher risk features, such as large peer-to-peer transfers and open withdrawals, until reconciliation metrics and fraud KPIs settle at low thresholds in the invite cohort.

Why Invest In White-Label BaaS Software Fit For Indonesia?

When speed, regulatory proof points, and investor discipline matter, customized BaaS platform is not an engineering compromise. It is a strategic choice that shifts build risk to proven modules and lets capital focus on liquidity, compliance, and go-to-market. The bullets below summarize the investor benefits you should demand from any white-label partner.

• Launch speed that converts concept to revenue faster than a custom build.
• Contractual auditability so that sponsor banks and regulators can review vendor controls and reconciliation artifacts.
• Lower upfront engineering cost so investor capital is available for liquidity, customer acquisition, and regulatory operations.
• Proven operational reliability with APAC references that reduce partner integration risk.
• Embedded security controls, including HSM, secrets management, and published pentest reports that accelerate approvals.
• Prebuilt compliance hooks for KYC, AML, suspicious activity reporting, and regulator reporting templates.
• Modular APIs that allow swapping custody, KYC, or card vendors without rebuilding the ledger.
• Standardized reconciliation and settlement reporting that aligns with sponsor bank procedures.
• Predictable pricing and clearer OPEX forecasting for investor financial models.
• Faster path to pilot and scaled rollouts using invite cohorts and phased feature gating.
• Focus on monetization by shifting product engineering to the vendor and concentrating internal teams on revenue channels.
• Easier due diligence because white-label providers can present evidence packages, customer references, and operational SLAs.

However, it is always recommended that you connect with an experienced and renowned crypto neo banking development company that boasts a vast team of certfied and talented experts, who will help you to launch a successful solution.

Crypto Banking Licensing & Compliance Checklist

• Confirm the sponsor bank or licensed e-money issuer and obtain sandbox credentials.
• Ensure the KYC provider supports Bahasa and local ID types, with liveness and document verification.
• Implement AML transaction monitoring and case management with threshold rules aligned to OJK guidance.
• Validate custody architecture: MPC or HSM, segregation of hot and cold wallets, and third-party audits.
• Prepare tax and reporting flows for domestic transaction taxes and withholding rules.
• Maintain production-grade audit trails, incident response playbooks, and regular compliance reporting cadence.

How to Launch in Just 7 Days: A Realistic Execution Framework?

Launching a white label neo-banking solution in Indonesia does not require months of engineering or regulatory uncertainty when the right white-label and sponsor-bank structure is in place. For investors, the objective of a seven-day launch is not scale, but proof. Proof of regulatory alignment, operational readiness, secure custody, and real transaction flows. This approach enables a controlled, invite-only rollout that validates core economics and risk controls before capital is committed at scale. The timeline below reflects an execution-ready scenario where infrastructure, partners, and compliance frameworks are pre-aligned, allowing teams to move decisively without compromising governance or auditability.

Day 1: Model lock-in and compliance alignment

The first day is about removing ambiguity. The business model, sponsor bank responsibilities, custody approach, and compliance thresholds are finalized. Product scope is frozen to a minimal but monetizable set, typically onboarding, IDR wallets, limited crypto access, and virtual cards. KYC tiers, AML thresholds, and transaction limits are defined and approved, ensuring that every feature released is compliant by design.

Day 2: Core platform deployment

On day two, the white-label neo-banking core is deployed in a staging environment. IDR wallet logic, ledger configuration, and API access are activated. Administrative dashboards and reconciliation views are enabled so treasury and compliance teams can already see transaction traces. By the end of the day, the platform is functionally alive, even if not yet consumer-visible.

Day 3: Identity and custody integration

This day focuses on trust and security. KYC flows are integrated and tested, ensuring users cannot transact without appropriate verification. Custody connections are established using MPC or certified custodial infrastructure, with wallet creation and key management validated in sandbox conditions. This step proves that assets can be securely held and accounted for under regulatory expectations.

Day 4: Payments and card readiness

Day four connects the platform to the real economy. IDR top-ups via sponsor-bank rails are tested, and virtual card issuance is enabled. Settlement flows and posting logic are validated so that every movement of funds is traceable from user action to ledger entry. At this stage, the platform can simulate real customer journeys end to end.

Day 5: Product readiness and localization

With the core plumbing complete, attention shifts to user experience and operational polish. Branding, Bahasa localization, and interface refinements are completed. Core flows such as onboarding, wallet views, and transactions are tested together to ensure consistency. Support workflows and escalation paths are also prepared so early users receive controlled, high-quality service.

Day 6: Security validation and sign-off

Before anything goes live, the platform undergoes focused security validation. Key flows are tested for vulnerabilities, secrets handling is verified, and custody controls are reviewed. Compliance teams perform a final review of audit logs and reporting readiness. This day ends with formal approval to move into production under a controlled launch.

Day 7: Controlled go-live

The final day marks a quiet but critical milestone. The platform is deployed to production and opened to a limited invite-only cohort. Transactions are monitored in real time, reconciliation is verified, and operational KPIs are captured. Investors receive the first performance snapshot, demonstrating that the system is live, compliant, and stable.

What this 7-day launch actually proves to investors?

This timeline does not claim full market rollout. It proves execution discipline. Investors see a working neo-bank, compliant IDR flows, secure custody, and live user activity within a week. More importantly, they see a foundation that can be scaled deliberately, backed by auditability, regulatory readiness, and measurable economics.

How Much Does Indonesia’s White-Label Neo-Bank Platform Cost?

Estimating the cost to develop an Indonesia fit white label crypto neo bank hinges on several controllable and contextual factors. Key drivers include the level of customization versus out of the box configuration, the chosen custody model and its associated security attestations, and the depth of sponsor bank and card integration required for local IDR rails. 

Ongoing compliance needs, such as AML tooling, KYC volume fees, and regulatory reporting workflows, influence operational spend and governance overhead. Integration complexity with liquidity providers, market makers and fiat on ramps affects engineering effort and run rate. Localization for Bahasa, user experience refinement, and customer support readiness shape product development and operations. Finally, desired service levels, monitoring, audit readiness and fraud prevention determine testing scope and staffing. Together, these elements define capital allocation and recurring costs for a compliant, scalable neo bank tailored to Indonesia.

Why Investors Choose to Build With Us?

Launching a crypto-friendly neo bank platform in Indonesia is not about speed alone. It is about controlled execution within a complex regulatory and technical environment. Our team designs compliant, ready for launch white label neo banks tailored for Indonesia. We combine fintech engineering, custody architecture, card and sponsor bank integrations, and regulatory counsel to deliver platforms that are production ready. Our legal experts guide you through OJK and Bank Indonesia expectations, prepare documentation ready for audit, and manage compliance workflows from sandbox to live operations.

Apart from this we believe that transparency is central: we provide weekly investor updates, access to operational dashboards, and an evidence package for due diligence. We prioritize measurable outcomes, not just technology, so investors see KYC conversion, settlement reliability, and revenue levers. If you seek a partner who reduces execution risk, accelerates time to market and keeps governance central, Antier can lead the journey to a defensible, scalable neo banking platform.

Bitcoin prices fall alongside the rest of the cryptocurrency market as the downturn continues.

Bitcoin’s price experienced another leg down in the last hours, dropping from around $78,000 to $74,780 in a couple of red candles. The move resulted in approximately $20 million in liquidated derivatives positions across major exchanges, with the majority held long.

Over the past hour alone, BTC lost around 1.7% of its value. The majority of altcoins followed suit. ETH dropped by 2 percent, XRP by 1.56%, SOL by 1.5%, ADA by 2.6%, and so forth.

The sudden drop comes as Iran seeks a new format for the nuclear talks with the United States. Recall that many regional (from the Middle East) powers, such as Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Oman, were trying to bring Iran and the US to talk in Istanbul this Friday.

Now, Iran is reportedly seeking a bilateral meeting with the US alone.

The shift could derail the diplomatic effort and increase the risk of a U.S. military response amid Trump’s Gulf buildup. – Reads the report.

Bitcoin continues to trade pretty much in contrast to traditional safe havens like gold, which haven’t reacted to the news. On the contrary, the precious metal registers an increase of around 3.5% in the past 24 hours, while BTC is down by almost 5% over the same period, signaling the breadth of the ongoing bear market.