Crypto World
Crypto Winter Has Been Here Since January 2025, But Recovery May Be Closer Than You Think
Retail crypto suffered most since January 2025, while ETFs and DATs masked true losses for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP, according to Hougan.
Bitwise Asset Management’s Chief Investment Officer, Matt Hougan, has stated that the cryptocurrency market has been in a full-blown “crypto winter” since January 2025.
The exec said that signs suggest the downturn may be closer to ending than beginning.
Positive News Isn’t Driving Prices
In a recent post titled “The Depths of Crypto Winter,” Hougan explained that, despite ongoing positive developments in adoption, regulation, and institutional involvement, the market is in a severe bear market.
Hougan noted that Bitcoin has fallen almost 39% from its October 2025 all-time high, while Ethereum is down 53%, and many other digital assets are performing even worse. He said this should not be interpreted as a short-term correction or a minor dip, but rather as a deep, drawn-out bear market similar to previous crypto winters, including those in 2018 and 2022. According to him, factors such as excessive leverage and widespread profit-taking by long-term holders contributed to the current downturn.
Despite developments such as a new Federal Reserve chair, Kevin Warsh, who is supportive of Bitcoin, increasing institutional hiring in crypto, and growing adoption by traditional financial firms, investor sentiment remains deeply wary. Hougan said that “Good news doesn’t matter in the depths of winter,” and added that these severe market conditions typically end not with enthusiasm but through exhaustion and sentiment normalization.
The Bitwise CIO also said that institutional flows played a crucial role in masking the true extent of the 2025 downturn. He cited data from the Bitwise 10 Large Cap Crypto Index, which showed that assets like Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP experienced smaller declines, between 10% and 20%, largely due to support from ETFs and Digital Asset Treasuries (DATs).
Other assets, including Solana, Litecoin, and Chainlink, experienced typical bear-market declines of 37% to 46%, while Cardano, Avalanche, Sui, and Polkadot saw losses ranging from 62% to 75%. Hougan explained that institutional access and investment through ETFs and DATs provided a buffer for some assets, while retail-focused tokens bore the brunt of the market downturn.
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For instance, ETFs and DATs purchased over 744,000 Bitcoin during the period, representing roughly $75 billion in support. Without that institutional buying, he estimated Bitcoin could have fallen by around 60% since January 2025. As such, several factors could mark the end of the current crypto winter, according to Hougan, who also said,
“I think we’re going to come roaring back sooner rather than later. Heck, it’s been winter since January 2025. Spring is surely coming soon.”
BTC’s Global Standing Weakens
The depth of the current downturn is also reflected in Bitcoin’s standing among global assets. As reported by CryptoPotato, Bitcoin has dropped out of the top ten assets by market capitalization and now ranks 13th globally, according to CompaniesMarketCap data from February 2.
Its market cap has declined to roughly $1.56 trillion, down from about $2.35 trillion back in July 2025, when it ranked sixth after rallying past $119,000.
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The integration lays the groundwork for private, compliant financial applications on Ripple’s Layer 1 blockchain.
Boundless, a zero-knowledge (ZK) proving network originally launched by RISC Zero, has integrated with the XRP Ledger (XRPL), bringing native ZK proof verification to the Layer 1 blockchain for the first time.
The integration is designed to enable institutions to build financial applications on XRPL that can execute privately while maintaining regulatory compliance, according to the announcement.
XRPL is a public, open-source blockchain built for payments and tokenized finance. The network has attracted more than $550 million in ecosystem funding and counts SBI Holdings, Zand Bank, Archax, and Guggenheim Treasury Services among its institutional users.
Despite the institutional foothold, on-chain transparency has remained a barrier to deeper adoption. Transaction flows, treasury strategies, and counterparty relationships are visible by default on public ledgers, creating competitive risks and compliance friction. Ripple CTO David Schwartz acknowledged as much last year, noting that even Ripple itself could not use the XRPL DEX for payments due to compliance constraints around anonymous liquidity providers.
Emiliano Bonassi, VP of Engineering at Boundless, said the integration covers use cases from stablecoin payments to DeFi flows.
“Boundless brings scalable confidential compute directly to the XRPL ecosystem,” Bonassi told The Defiant. “Institutions can settle on XRPL with ZK proofs and cryptographic attestations for compliance and privacy-preserving logic, such as sanction screening to KYC/KYT/KYB. No trust assumptions, no data exposure, and full control over what gets disclosed and to whom.”
The privacy layer arrives as XRPL continues to expand its institutional network. Ripple teased major XRPL upgrades in February aimed at broadening XRP’s utility beyond payments into stablecoin settlement, tokenized assets, and lending. In November, Ripple partnered with Mastercard and WebBank to test RLUSD stablecoin card settlements on XRPL. And the network’s real-world asset push has accelerated, with Argentina’s YPF Luz launching an energy tokenization platform carrying over $800 million in tokenized assets on the ledger.
“XRPL has always been built for institutional finance. With Boundless, we are making confidential, compliant execution native infrastructure on XRPL, unlocking a new category of enterprise use cases,” said Odelia Torteman, Director of Corporate Adoption at XRPL Commons.
The integration reflects a broader industry shift toward privacy-first architecture powered by zero-knowledge proofs. At Ethereum’s DevConnect conference in Buenos Aires last November, ZK tooling emerged as a dominant theme, with Boundless among the projects highlighted for its work on ZK-powered cross-chain infrastructure. Proof systems have matured from experimental cryptography to what builders now consider core infrastructure for the next phase of institutional DeFi.
This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.
Venture capitalist Tim Draper recounted his Bitcoin (BTC) history, renewing his call for a $250,000 price target.
The billionaire said his BTC journey began with a failed attempt to buy at $4 per coin. He had arranged for Peter Vessenes to mine Bitcoin using Butterfly Labs chips. However, the manufacturer allegedly used the chips for its own mining before shipping them.
A Series of Losses Led to a Defining Bet
By the time Vessenes received the equipment, BTC had already climbed above $30. The mined coins were stored on Mt. Gox, the dominant exchange at the time.
When Mt. Gox collapsed in 2014, Draper lost his entire position.
The loss prompted deeper research. Draper found that BTC was being used for remittances and paying unbanked workers. That conviction led him to the US Marshals Service auction in July 2014. He bid $632 per BTC and won all nine lots, totaling roughly 29,656 coins.
He then appeared on Fox Business and predicted BTC would hit $10,000 in three years.
That forecast proved accurate almost to the day in November 2017.
Draper Eyes $250,000 Within 18 Months
Draper now suggests BTC could reach $250,000 within 18 months. He cited inflationary pressures and a weakening dollar as tailwinds.
“I have reason to believe that Bitcoin will reach $250k in 18 months… and eventually I expect the number to be higher as Bitcoin rises and the dollar falls to inflationary pressures,” he wrote in his latest post.
However, it is worth noting that Draper has issued a Bitcoin price target of $250,000 in the past, yet BTC has gotten nowhere close in six years.
BTC traded near $74,205 at the time of writing. Other prominent voices, including Cardano founder Charles Hoskinson, have also targeted $250,000. That level remains more than three times the current price.
The post Billionaire Tim Draper Predicts Bitcoin Will Reach This Price in 18 Months appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Bitcoin touched $75,900 in mid-morning U.S. trading hours on Tuesday, marking its highest level since before February 5, when the price crashed down to $60,000.
Optimism about developments in the Iran war is sparking solid gains across risk assets and continued declines in oil prices. The Nasdaq was ahead 1.2% and WTI crude was lower by 6% to $93 per barrel.
Crypto-related stocks were higher across the board as well. Strategy (MSTR) was up 7.6, Coinbase (COIN) 6.2%, Circle (CRCL) 11% and Galaxy Digital (GLXY) 8.3%.
Bitcoin miners — most of which have altered their business plans to focus on AI-related data center buildouts — were also making large upside moves, led by the former Bitfarms, now Keel Infrastructure (KEEL), which was up 20.5%. MARA Holdings (MARA) was ahead 5.8% and Hut 8 (HUT) 4.8%.
The broader macro backdrop has also turned more supportive. With the Nasdaq reaching its highest level since early February, ether (ETH) also outperformed bitcoin, underscoring the risk-on tone across markets, said Joel Kruger, market strategist at LMAX Group.
“Overall, the past 24 hours reflect a market that is beginning to show signs of re-engagement,” Kruger said, pointing to improving technicals and broader participation.
The next test for the crypto rally comes at current levels. Kruger said the $76,000 level for bitcoin, where the mid-March rebound rolled over, is a key resistance.
A decisive move above — alongside sustained strength in ether (ETH), the second-largest cryptocurrency — would be key in determining whether the rebound can evolve into a more durable bullish trend, he said.
The Ethereum Foundation is doubling down on one of the ecosystem’s most critical needs: security.
On Tuesday, the organization unveiled a new initiative aimed at tackling a persistent challenge in crypto development—the high cost of smart contract security audits.
Through its “Audit Subsidy Program,” the foundation is partnering with leading audit providers and ecosystem firms to make professional security reviews more accessible to builders.
Backed by a $1 million subsidy pool, the program is designed to lower financial barriers that have historically prevented many teams from undergoing comprehensive audits, despite their importance as an industry best practice.
The initiative is part of the foundation’s broader Trillion Dollar Security Initiative, which focuses on strengthening Ethereum as it scales to support increasingly complex applications and larger amounts of value on-chain.
The program includes partners such as Nethermind, Chainlink Labs and Areta, and connects builders with more than 20 top-tier audit firms, helping streamline access to trusted security expertise across the ecosystem.
Alongside the rollout, the foundation also introduced a new framework it calls the “CROPS principles,” short for censorship resistance, open source, privacy and security. The framework is intended to guide how applications are built and evaluated across the Ethereum ecosystem.
Builders can submit their projects for consideration, after which an expert committee reviews applications. Selected teams receive subsidies that can be applied directly to audit services through Areta’s platform. The program is open to all Ethereum mainnet builders, regardless of size or stage.
“The subsidy program makes audits accessible and strengthens the Ethereum ecosystem,” the foundation wrote on X.
Read more: Ethereum Foundation publishes new mandate defining its role, core principles
Coinbase is reportedly in talks with Anthropic to gain access to Claude Mythos Preview, the AI company’s restricted frontier model with advanced cybersecurity capabilities.
The outreach, first reported by The Information, reflects growing urgency among crypto exchanges to defend against increasingly sophisticated AI-driven threats.
Project Glasswing Raises the Stakes for Crypto
Anthropic launched Project Glasswing in early April 2026, a defensive cybersecurity initiative giving select partners limited access to Mythos.
The model identified thousands of previously unknown zero-day vulnerabilities during testing, including a 27-year-old flaw in OpenBSD and a 16-year-old bug in FFmpeg.
Founding partners include Amazon Web Services, Apple, Google, JPMorgan Chase, Microsoft, and Palo Alto Networks. Over 40 additional organizations maintaining critical software also received access.
Anthropic committed $100 million in compute credits and $4 million to open-source security groups for the program.
For Coinbase, the largest US crypto exchange, the timing is significant. The platform dealt with a major insider breach in 2025 that exposed personal data of roughly 70,000 users after overseas support agents were bribed by criminals.
Coinbase refused a $20 million ransom demand and instead posted a matching bounty for information leading to arrests.
Anthropic’s own research has shown that AI agents can autonomously exploit smart contract vulnerabilities, generating millions in simulated stolen funds.
That finding indicates why exchanges may view Mythos access as essential rather than optional.
Mythos will not reach general availability. Anthropic plans to integrate its capabilities into future Claude releases with strengthened safeguards.
Post-preview pricing sits at $25 per million input tokens and $125 per million output tokens.
Whether Coinbase secures formal partnership status or broader Glasswing access remains unclear.
The exchange already uses Claude for customer support operations across more than 100 regions.
The post Coinbase Reportedly Courts Anthropic to Bolster Exchange Security Infrastructure appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The SEC granted accelerated approval to FINRA’s rule change eliminating the Pattern Day Trader designation and its $25,000 minimum equity requirement for day traders.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday approved FINRA’s proposed rule change eliminating the Pattern Day Trader designation, the $25,000 minimum equity requirement, and all related day-trading buying power provisions under FINRA Rule 4210. The accelerated approval removes longstanding restrictions that have governed retail day trading for decades.
The SEC simultaneously approved new intraday margin standards requiring broker-dealers to monitor and address real-time risk exposure in customer margin accounts. The regulatory shift represents a substantial change to day-trading accessibility and compliance frameworks for retail investors in U.S. equity markets.
Sources: WatcherGuru | WatcherGuru
This article was generated automatically by The Defiant’s AI news system from publicly available sources.
Ken Griffin, chief executive officer of Citadel Advisors LLC, at the Semafor World Economy Summit during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank Spring meetings in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Citadel CEO Ken Griffin said Tuesday that the global economy is headed toward a recession if the Strait of Hormuz stays shut for much longer.
“Let’s assume [the strait is] shut down for the next six to 12 months — the world’s going to end up in a recession,” Griffin said on stage at the Semafor World Economy conference in Washington, D.C. “There’s no way to avoid that.”
As a result, the world is going to see a massive shift toward alternative fuel sources, including wind, solar and nuclear, he added. To be sure, the hedge fund leader thinks the consequences of the war would have been worse if the U.S. delayed any strikes until Iran’s military capabilities had grown.
Stocks have managed to rebound back to where they were before the U.S. first attacked Iran in February, but the optimistic sentiment among investors is contingent on the duration of the war in the Middle East. Many expect risks of an escalation in tensions between the two countries are not at all priced into the market.
Global economies especially in Asia remain vulnerable to spikes in oil prices, which remain elevated at around $100 a barrel. That’s off their highs during the conflict, but remain far above where they were before the war, at just below $70 a barrel.
Paxos Labs has raised $12 million in a strategic funding round led by Blockchain Capital to expand its Amplify platform, a suite of tools that lets companies offer crypto yield, lending and stablecoin issuance through a single integration.
The Amplify suite includes three modules — Earn, Borrow and Mint — allowing platforms to generate yield on digital assets, enable crypto-backed loans and issue branded stablecoins with a single integration designed to unlock additional features over time.
According to Tuesday’s announcement, the platform provides a single SDK with configurable controls, while Paxos Labs manages liquidity, counterparty vetting and backend operations, and shares a portion of generated revenue with integrating partners.
The company said partners including Aleo, Hyperbeat and Toku are already using the platform, with Hyperbeat reporting more than $510,000 in assets under management since launching on April 9. The raise also included participation from Robot Ventures, Maelstrom and Uniswap.
Paxos Labs operates as an incubated unit within Paxos, which has processed more than $180 billion in tokenization volume for institutional clients, according to the company.
The launch targets platforms already offering crypto custody or trading, positioning the tools as a way to turn passive digital asset balances into active, revenue-generating financial products.
Related: Coinbase USDC revenue may multiply 7x as payments grow, Bloomberg says
Crypto platforms expand yield and lending offerings for user-held assets
Crypto platforms have been expanding beyond custody and trading as they look to generate additional revenue from user-held digital assets.
In March, Kraken integrated a structured products platform from STS Digital, enabling options-based strategies designed to generate fixed returns on Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH). Also last month, Coinbase introduced a tokenized share class of its Bitcoin Yield Fund on its Base network, offering institutional investors onchain access to yield-bearing crypto exposure.
Both crypto exchanges also offer yield on stablecoin deposits, allowing users to earn returns on assets that would otherwise remain idle, including through integrations with onchain lending markets.
Institutional-focused providers are also extending lending against assets held in custody. In February, Anchorage Digital said it would work with Kamino and Solana Company to let institutions borrow against staked Solana (SOL) without moving assets, while in March, Lombard teamed up with Bitwise Asset Management to offer yield and borrowing against Bitcoin using onchain lending infrastructure.
Meanwhile, debate over yield-bearing crypto products has extended into policy discussions centered around the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, a proposal that aims to establish a regulatory framework for digital assets in the US.
The American Bankers Association said Monday that allowing stablecoin yield could accelerate deposit outflows from smaller banks, pushing up funding costs and reducing local lending.
Magazine: Clarity Act risks repeat of Europe’s mistakes, crypto lawyer warns
Benjamin Cowen has spent years saying things people don’t want to hear. No hype, paid promotions, or promises of the next 100x altcoin. In a space where opinions are routinely bought and sold, he has built one of crypto’s most trusted voices on a simple, uncomfortable truth:
“It’s hard to find people in this space whose opinions aren’t paid for. A lot of times, their opinions are actually paid for.”
What makes that statement land differently coming from Cowen is where he came from — and what he carried with him on the way.
The Lab That Built Benjamin Cowen
Before hundreds of thousands of subscribers knew his name, Benjamin Cowen was deep inside a university laboratory, studying radiation damage through molecular dynamics and transmission electron microscopy.
From 2013 to 2018, his world was defined by peer-reviewed papers, strict advisers, and the kind of intellectual rigour that doesn’t tolerate shortcuts. By the time he defended his dissertation, he had around ten to eleven published papers to his name.
That foundation, he says, is everything.
“I don’t really think I had that strong of a work ethic before grad school. But then I went to grad school and I had to work really, really hard. If you’re running an experiment, it doesn’t care if you’ve already worked forty hours that week. You still got to go in and deal with it.”
Graduate school changed him. The lab doesn’t close because you’ve already put in forty hours. You show up anyway. That lesson never left.
Culture Shock: From Academia to the Crypto
When Cowen started his YouTube channel, IntoTheCryptoverse, the transition from academia to crypto felt natural in one sense — and deeply jarring in another. The work ethic translated perfectly. The culture did not.
“In my world, you don’t talk to people like that. In academia, everyone’s really respectful and professional. People aren’t tweeting back at each other at 3:00 a.m. with really mean insults.”
For a while, it got to him. A single negative comment could overshadow ten positive ones and linger for the rest of the day. He kept showing up anyway. Five, six, sometimes eight or nine videos a week. Applying the same publishing discipline learned in grad school to a medium moving at an entirely different speed.
The breakthrough came gradually. He realised that in crypto, you’re either a bull or a bear. There is no neutral ground that pleases everyone.
“It really doesn’t matter what I say — there will be a certain amount of people that just don’t like what I say regardless.”
Once he accepted that, the comments lost their power. Today, two to three years into that mindset shift, Benjamin Cowen barely dwells on criticism at all.
One Ethics Stayed Constant
Through it all, what kept him grounded wasn’t the channel, the analysis, or the portfolio. It was something far simpler.
“The biggest form of wealth is family, in my opinion. I would give up every Bitcoin I’ve ever owned for my family.”
In a space that constantly tempts people to define their worth by their holdings, that kind of clarity is rarer than it sounds. It also explains something deeper about why his audience keeps coming back — not for price predictions, but for perspective from someone who has never confused the market with what actually matters in life.
Benjamin Cowen didn’t stumble into crypto in search of a get-rich-quick story. He arrived with a scientist’s mind, an academic’s discipline, and the integrity to say what the data shows, even when nobody wants to hear it.
In an industry that rewards hype, that turned out to be his greatest edge.
The post From NASA to Crypto: The Unlikely Journey of Benjamin Cowen appeared first on BeInCrypto.
TLDR
- HYPE climbed above $45 for the first time in five months after gaining more than 20% in one week.
- Oil perpetual contracts ranked among the most traded assets on Hyperliquid during the price rally.
- Crude Oil generated over $840 million in 24-hour volume and became the third most traded market.
- Brent Crude Oil recorded more than $360 million in daily volume and ranked fifth on the exchange.
- HIP-3 daily trading volume reached about $5.4 billion in late March, led by commodity contracts.
HYPE advanced to nearly $45 early Tuesday, marking its highest level in five months. The token gained over 20% during the past week as trading volumes expanded. Oil-linked perpetual contracts drove much of the activity on Hyperliquid.
The token later eased to about $43.4 at press time. However, it held most of its weekly gains as traders stayed active. The recovery followed renewed focus on commodity markets listed on the exchange.
HYPE Price Rally Aligns with Commodity Trading Surge
HYPE climbed sharply as traders increased activity across builder-deployed markets on Hyperliquid. The token reached nearly $45 before trimming gains later in the session. It still traded firmly above late January levels.
The weekly advance exceeded 20%, reflecting stronger participation on the platform. Oil contracts ranked among the most traded assets during the rally. This trading momentum coincided with higher open interest across new perpetual listings.
Hyperliquid operates a permissionless listing structure under its HIP-3 framework. Outside developers can launch perpetual markets directly on the exchange. The protocol describes HIP-3 as a move toward decentralized perp listings.
This structure expanded the range of available markets beyond digital assets. Commodity and equity-linked contracts gained traction in recent weeks. As a result, overall trading activity shifted toward these instruments.
Market data showed builder-deployed markets topping $1.2 billion in open interest during March. Oil and equity futures contributed heavily to that figure. These contracts became central to daily trading flows on the platform.
Crude Oil emerged as one of the busiest contracts on Hyperliquid. The contract generated over $840 million in 24-hour volume. It ranked as the third most traded market on the exchange.
Brent Crude Oil also attracted strong participation from traders. The contract recorded more than $360 million in 24-hour volume. It ranked fifth among all listed markets.
Oil Frenzy Under HIP-3 Lifts HYPE Visibility
Trading activity accelerated during volatility tied to the US-Iran conflict. Traders used perpetual markets to react before traditional exchanges reopened. This dynamic increased volume across oil-linked contracts.
A March report from The Wall Street Journal detailed rapid volume growth. Cumulative oil futures volume jumped from $339 million to $7.3 billion within days. Traders favored nonstop markets during heightened geopolitical tension.
This surge extended beyond oil alone and covered other commodities. HIP-3 daily volume reached about $5.4 billion in late March. Silver, WTI, Brent, and gold contracts led that activity.
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