TLDR:

• Bitcoin Miners’ Position Index has dropped to -1.04, marking one of the lowest readings in its recorded history.
  
• Extreme low MPI reflects minimal miner selling pressure, suggesting miners may be holding rewards in anticipation of higher prices.
  
• Historically, Bitcoin price recoveries emerged as MPI rose from depressed levels, not at the moment it hit its floor.
  
• Low MPI removes a key structural headwind, but sustained price movement still depends on demand-side confirmation signals.

Bitcoin’s Miners’ Position Index (MPI) has fallen to -1.04, one of the lowest readings ever recorded in its history. This is only the third time the 30-day moving average has neared the -1 threshold.

At this level, miners are sending far fewer coins than their one-year average reflects. The sharp drop in outflows raises a critical question across the market: does extreme miner inactivity signal quiet accumulation and strength ahead, or does it mask a deeper structural warning?

The Case for Hidden Strength Behind Miner Inactivity

When miners hold block rewards rather than move them to exchanges, sell pressure from one of Bitcoin’s most consistent natural sellers drops sharply.

The Miners’ Position Index measures outflows against a one-year historical average, and a reading of -1.04 places current miner behavior near the bottom of its entire recorded range. That level of restraint does not happen frequently.

Analyst MorenoDV_ noted the reading publicly, describing it as one of the lowest MPI prints in Bitcoin’s history. He pointed out this is only the third time the 30-day moving average has approached the -1 mark.

Source: Cryptoquant

According to his analysis, miners appear to be either accumulating block rewards or anticipating higher prices ahead.

From a supply perspective, reduced miner distribution removes a persistent structural headwind. Miners have long represented a consistent source of selling in the market, given their need to cover operational costs. When that flow dries up at this scale, available sell-side supply contracts meaningfully.

That contraction does not guarantee price appreciation on its own. However, it does create conditions where demand-side forces face less resistance.

In that context, extreme miner inactivity can reasonably be read as a quiet form of market strength rather than passive behavior.

The Silent Warning Embedded in Extreme Low MPI Readings

Historical patterns complicate any straightforward bullish reading of extreme low MPI levels. Most Bitcoin cyclical price lows did not form precisely at the moment MPI hit its floor.

Instead, price recoveries tended to emerge as the metric began rising from those depressed levels, not while it sat at the bottom.

Extreme low MPI readings have also historically coincided with periods of miner stress, compressed margins, and macro uncertainty.

That context matters. Inactivity at this scale can reflect miners unable or unwilling to sell, rather than miners confidently holding in anticipation of gains.

MorenoDV_ acknowledged this nuance directly in his analysis. He noted that the absence of miner selling alone cannot sustain upward momentum without clear demand expansion.

Spot flows, ETF inflows, and derivatives positioning all remain necessary catalysts that MPI does not capture.

The signal becomes more actionable when MPI begins recovering from these lows alongside improving market conditions.

Until that recovery takes shape, extreme miner inactivity sits in an ambiguous space. It reduces one headwind, but it does not confirm the demand-side engagement needed to drive a sustained directional move.

TLDR:

• OpenAI plans to nearly double its workforce from 4,500 to 8,000 employees by the close of 2026.
  
• Most new hires will be deployed across product development, engineering, research, and sales divisions.
  
• OpenAI is recruiting “technical ambassadorship” specialists to help businesses maximize its AI tools.
  
• A $110 billion funding round valued OpenAI at $840 billion, backing its large-scale hiring strategy.

OpenAI is reportedly planning to nearly double its workforce from 4,500 to 8,000 employees by end of 2026. The Financial Times published this report on Saturday, citing two people with knowledge of the matter.The company did not respond to a request for comment by press time.

The expansion plan targets product development, engineering, research, and sales teams. This move comes as the company continues to scale its commercial operations across global markets.

A Focused Hiring Push Across Product, Engineering, and Sales

The company plans to direct most of the new hires toward product development, engineering, research, and sales. These four areas form the core of its technical and business growth strategy.

The ChatGPT maker operates as one of the most closely watched artificial intelligence firms globally. The Financial Times report, citing insiders, notes that the hiring plan is structured around these key functions.

The company is also stepping up recruitment for “technical ambassadorship” specialists. According to the FT report, these professionals are aimed at “helping businesses make better use of its tools.” This growing role reflects a broader push toward enterprise-level client support and integration.

The ChatGPT maker recently completed a $110 billion funding round that included Big Tech companies and SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son.

That round valued the company at $840 billion, making it one of the highest-valued private companies in the world. The capital raised provides the company with the financial resources needed to sustain large-scale hiring into 2026.

Internal Code Red and Market Competition Accelerate OpenAI’s Expansion

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman reportedly issued an internal “code red” directive in early December last year. The order paused non-core projects and redirected teams toward accelerating product development timelines.

This came as a direct response to Google’s release of Gemini 3, which intensified AI competition.

The code red move showed how seriously the company responds to competitive pressure in the AI sector. Redirecting internal resources and pausing non-essential work reflects a clear change in operational priorities.

It also signals that the company treats speed of delivery as a core part of its market strategy. This approach appears to be shaping how the company plans to scale operations in 2026.

SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son joined the $110 billion round alongside several major Big Tech investors. His participation, combined with broader tech involvement, pushed the valuation to “$840 billion,” as reported by Reuters.

With that financial base secured, OpenAI is well-placed to meet its workforce targets before the end of 2026.

Bitcoin traders are paying record prices for downside protection, according to VanEck’s mid-March 2026 Bitcoin ChainCheck, a sign that investors remain defensive even as spot prices begin to stabilize.

In the report, senior VanEck analysts said bitcoin’s 30-day average price fell 19% from the prior period, while realized volatility dropped from about 80 to just above 50.

Futures funding rates also eased to 2.7% from 4.1%, suggesting leveraged speculation has cooled.

Options markets show investors are as cautious as it gets. VanEck said the put/call open interest ratio averaged 0.77 and peaked at 0.84, the highest level since June 2021, when China cracked down on bitcoin mining.

Traders spent about $685 million on put options over the past 30 days, while call premiums fell 12% to about $562 million, the report adds. Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached roughly 4 basis points, an all-time high in VanEck’s data.

“Relative to spot volume, put premiums reached an all-time high of roughly 4 basis points, roughly 3x the levels seen in mid-2022 following the Terra/Luna stablecoin collapse and the Ethereum staking liquidity crisis,” the report reads.

That means investors are paying up for insurance against further losses.

VanEck said that kind of fear has often marked turning points rather than fresh breakdowns. The firm found that, in the past six years, similar options that skewed readings were followed by average bitcoin gains of 13% over 90 days and 133% over 360 days.

The report also points out onchain activity has remained weak while miner selling remains contained.

TLDR:

• Tether holds $141B in U.S. Treasury exposure, ranking it 17th among all global government debt holders.
  
• The GENIUS Act legally requires stablecoin issuers to back every token with T-bills or dollar equivalents.
  
• China cut $86B in Treasury holdings as Japan signals drawdown, opening demand gaps stablecoins now fill.
  
• Apollo projects the stablecoin market could hit $2 trillion by 2028, potentially surpassing Japan’s Treasury position.

Stablecoins have quietly become a structural component of U.S. monetary policy. Tether and Circle now hold over $160 billion in U.S. Treasury securities combined.

That total places both companies above sovereign nations, including South Korea, Germany, and Saudi Arabia. A decade ago, neither existed in any meaningful financial capacity. Today, they rank among the most consistent buyers of American government debt on the planet.

The GENIUS Act Turned Stablecoin Reserves Into a Treasury Buying Mandate

The GENIUS Act, signed into law last year, reshaped how stablecoin issuers manage their reserves. The legislation requires each stablecoin token to be backed 1:1 with verified reserves.

Those reserves must be held in U.S. dollars, Treasury bills, or short-duration equivalent instruments. Congress did not only regulate stablecoins as it also created a legal mandate to buy Treasuries at scale.

Tether currently holds $141 billion in total U.S. Treasury exposure under this structure. Of that amount, $122 billion is held directly in T-bills.

The remaining portion is parked in overnight reverse repurchase agreements. That positions Tether as the 17th largest holder of U.S. government debt worldwide.

Circle’s USDC adds another $24.5 billion in Treasury reserves to the broader picture. About 93% of Circle’s total reserves sit in overnight repos and short-term government securities.

As TFTC noted on X, “Congress didn’t just regulate stablecoins. It created a legal mandate to buy Treasuries at scale.” Together, both issuers have become a growing class of captive Treasury buyers.

Tether also reported $10 billion in profit through the first three quarters of 2025. That result surpassed Bank of America’s earnings for the same period.

It also nearly matched figures posted by both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. Tether reached that level with a workforce of approximately 300 employees.

Stablecoins Fill the Demand Gap as Traditional Foreign Buyers Pull Back

China reduced its Treasury holdings by $86 billion over the past year. Its current position has fallen to the lowest level recorded since 2008.

Japan, the largest foreign holder at $1.2 trillion, is also signaling a slow drawdown. The traditional foreign buyer base for U.S. government debt is gradually narrowing.

Stablecoins are absorbing a share of that demand in real time. Every dollar minted as USDT or USDC creates automatic buying pressure for U.S. government securities.

The dollar also gets distributed globally through crypto payment rails. This mechanism extends dollar dominance without relying on traditional diplomatic or military tools.

Apollo estimates the stablecoin sector could reach $2 trillion by 2028. At that scale, stablecoin issuers would hold more Treasuries than Japan currently does.

TFTC stated that “the U.S. government now has a structural incentive to grow the stablecoin market.” That incentive is now embedded directly into federal legislation.

The growth of stablecoins serves both crypto markets and the broader U.S. fiscal structure. Each new token minted adds to Treasury demand in a measurable and automatic way.

This dynamic was not present in any meaningful form just five years ago. Stablecoins now function as one of the most reliable buyers of American sovereign debt.

TLDR:

• A 66-year-old Hong Kong retiree lost HK$6.6 million to three separate cryptocurrency scams in six months.
  
• Each scammer posed as a virtual currency expert on WhatsApp and vanished after receiving the transferred funds.
  
• Hong Kong police warn that anyone offering to recover scam losses is likely running a follow-up fraud.
  
• Police advise the public never to transfer cryptocurrency or money to unverified strangers’ accounts online.

A cryptocurrency scam has wiped out the life savings of a 66-year-old Hong Kong retiree in just six months. The victim fell for three separate fraud schemes between September 2025 and January 2026.

Each scammer posed as a virtual currency investment expert on WhatsApp. Hong Kong police disclosed the case via their “Net Keeper” cybercrime awareness platform. The total financial loss reached HK$6.6 million across the three incidents.

Retiree Falls for the Same Cryptocurrency Scam Three Times

The ordeal began when the victim received an unsolicited WhatsApp message in September 2025. A stranger, claiming expertise in virtual currency investment, initiated contact without prior introduction.

Trusting the individual, the retiree transferred HK$1.4 million in cryptocurrency to a designated account. Once the funds cleared, the so-called expert went silent and disappeared entirely.

Still hoping to recover the money, the victim searched online for another investment expert. A second contact then offered to help retrieve what was lost from the first incident.

The retiree transferred HK$600,000 as a deposit, believing the recovery was possible. That contact also disappeared immediately after receiving the payment.

In January 2026, a third scammer reached out through WhatsApp with a more convincing offer. This individual promised to recover losses from both previous incidents in one transaction.

The condition involved purchasing HK$4.6 million in cryptocurrency and depositing it into a specified account. After the transfer was completed, the third scammer vanished just as quickly as the others.

Each incident followed a near-identical structure, making the pattern recognizable in hindsight. The victim reported the fraud to police after each separate deception.

However, the desperation to recover funds made the retiree vulnerable to each new approach. Combined losses across all three incidents totaled HK$6.6 million, a lifetime of savings.

Hong Kong Police Warn Public Against Recovery Scams

Following the case, Hong Kong’s Cybercrime Bureau issued clear public warnings through the “Net Keeper” platform. Officers stated that no legitimate party can guarantee to recover money lost in a scam.

Anyone who approaches a fraud victim offering such services should be treated with immediate suspicion. This type of follow-up targeting is a recognized serial scam tactic.

Police also warned against trusting claims of “guaranteed returns” or access to “inside information.” These are common phrases used by scammers to establish false credibility with potential victims.

Transferring cryptocurrency or money to an unverified stranger’s account carries serious financial risk. Authorities advised the public never to do so, regardless of the reason given.

The case also shows how recovery fraud specifically targets people who have already been deceived. Scammers often identify prior victims and approach them with tailored recovery pitches.

The emotional distress of financial loss can cloud judgment and make people more susceptible. Acting on such offers without verification compounds the original damage further.

Anyone who suspects fraud is urged to contact police without delay. Reporting early can help authorities track criminal networks before more victims are targeted.

The public is reminded to verify the credentials of anyone offering financial or investment advice online. Caution, not urgency, should guide every cryptocurrency-related transaction.

TLDR:

• XRP has dropped 5.8% in three days and remains trapped inside an eight-month descending channel near $1.45.
  
• A confirmed breakout above channel resistance could push XRP to a price target range between $2.50 and $4.00.
  
• Ripple has spent over $2.25 billion on acquisitions, building a full-stack financial platform around the XRP Ledger.
  
• XRP holds digital commodity status with both the SEC and CFTC, with an OCC banking charter application now under review.

XRP remains at a critical technical juncture as the broader crypto market experiences a consolidation phase. The asset is down 5.8% over the last three days, currently trading near $1.45.

Chart analysts point to a descending channel resistance as the key barrier to recovery. Meanwhile, Ripple continues expanding its regulatory and institutional presence globally. Technical and fundamental forces are both shaping the asset’s near-term direction.

Technical Resistance Keeps XRP Below Key Breakout Levels

XRP is trading inside a long-standing descending channel that formed after the asset peaked at $3.6 in July. The upper trendline has acted as firm resistance for eight months.

The asset tested this trendline on October 2, 2025, and again on January 6, 2026. Both attempts failed to produce a sustained close above the resistance level.

Chart analyst Ray notes that a confirmed breakout could push XRP to between $2.50 and $4.00. That range reflects a potential gain of 77% to 180% from current levels.

However, the descending channel trendline remains the major barrier standing between current prices and those targets.

The recent pullback has come alongside a broader lull across the crypto market. XRP’s price action continues to follow the channel structure closely.

The Japan-to-Philippines corridor, cited as a key use case for XRP, carries billions in annual remittance volume. Traders are watching for a decisive close above the resistance line before confirming any directional shift.

Until that breakout occurs, the asset remains technically constrained within the channel. The pattern from the past eight months shows that resistance at the upper trendline has been consistent.

Each rejection has reinforced the channel’s relevance as an active price structure. A volume-driven close above the trendline would be the clearest signal of a trend reversal.

Ripple Builds Institutional and Regulatory Infrastructure Around XRP

Beyond chart patterns, Ripple has been assembling a vertically integrated financial stack. The company acquired Hidden Road for $1.25 billion and GTreasury for $1 billion. Other purchases include Rail, Palisade, Solvexia, Metaco, Standard Custody, Fortress Trust, and BC Payments.

These acquisitions bring payments, custody, treasury, and prime brokerage under one roof. Ripple now holds over 75 regulatory licenses globally. The company has filed for a VASP license in Brazil and holds a full EU EMI license. An OCC banking charter application is also under review.

X Finance Bull, a crypto commentator on X, drew attention to XRP’s advantages over traditional payment rails. The post noted XRP Ledger’s 3-5 second settlement and sub-cent transaction fees.

It compared these directly against SWIFT’s multi-day processing and a 6.5% average cost on a $200 remittance.

The asset has been classified as a digital commodity by both the SEC and the CFTC. The CLARITY Act is expected to bring further regulatory clarity to the digital asset space.

Ripple has also expanded operations across Dublin, London, Singapore, and Sydney. These moves position XRP collectively as a functional settlement layer within the modernizing global financial system.

The Algorand Foundation on Wednesday joined the ranks of crypto firms slashing headcount, losing 25% of its fewer than 200 employees and citing “the uncertain global macro environment” and a broader crypto downturn.

The cuts arrived as a wave of layoffs proliferates across the industry. In February, Gemini Space Station (GEMI) said it would eliminate roughly 200 positions, about a quarter of its staff, a figure that had grown to 30% by mid-March. On Thursday, Crypto.com said it is trimming 12%, about 180 roles.

That’s on top of 20 employees who got the chop at OP Labs, the company building layer-2 blockchain Optimism, earlier this month and the five full-time employees and three contractors let go at PIP Labs, the team behind Story Protocol, 10% of its workforce. Messari, a crypto data provider that now bills itself as an AI-first company, announced its third round of layoffs since 2023 alongside a CEO change, without giving a number.

Official explanations varied. Algorand pointed squarely at macro conditions and weak token prices, though many framed their cuts as a pivot toward greater use of AI in the workflow.

“AI is now too powerful not to use at Gemini,” the company said in its letter to shareholders. “Not using AI at Gemini will soon be the equivalent of showing up to work with a typewriter instead of a laptop.”

“We are joining the list of companies integrating enterprise-wide AI,” a Crypto.com spokesperson told CoinDesk on Thursday, pointing to increased efficiencies needing fewer workers. CEO Kris Marszalek on X said companies that do not pivot toward integrating AI into their processes will fail.

Algorand’s cuts reportedly hit community management and business development roles, not positions obviously displaced by AI. To be fair, the company blamed the broader crypto environment. It’s ALGO token recently traded around $0.09, down 98% from its 2019 peak. Bitcoin BTC$70,314.33, the largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, has lost 20% this quarter.

Industry consolidation

Industry observers pointed to a broader consolidation dynamic. Entire crypto sectors like restaking, DePIN and layer 2s, which were once flush with talent have contracted sharply, while M&A activity is adding to redundancies as acqui-hires — employees acquired by buying a company — displace legacy employees.

“I see no real indication that these layoffs have anything to do with AI workforce replacement at scale,” said Dan Escow, the founder of crypto recruitment agency Up Top. “Entire categories like restaking, DePIN and L2s that were once robust with talent are basically non-existent. Companies are forced into cost-cutting mode to buy time to figure out how to execute on whatever comes next.”

The broader hiring picture supports that reading. New job postings across major crypto job boards ran at roughly 6.5 per day in January, down around 80% from the same period a year earlier.

Just the companies mentioned in this story — excluding Messari, which did not disclose numbers — have announced around 450 job cuts in a matter of weeks. Thay may be the tip of the iceberg, in crypto winter of 2022 CoinDesk tracked more than 26,000 job losses over the course of the year, a tally that took months to become apparent.

TLDR:

• XRPL now hosts $2.3 billion in tokenized real-world assets, drawing major institutional players worldwide.
  
• The XRP Ledger settles transactions in 3 to 5 seconds at fractions of a penny, far outpacing traditional wire transfers.
  
• Société Générale, SBI Holdings, and Braza Bank have all launched financial products directly on the XRPL platform.
  
• Ripple has processed over $100 billion in volume across a network of more than 300 global financial institutions.

The story of money spans thousands of years, from grain trades in ancient villages to decentralized digital ledgers. Each era of exchange solved a problem the previous one could not.

Today, the XRP Ledger stands at the end of that long chain of innovation. With $2.3 billion in tokenized real-world assets and three to five second settlement, XRPL represents the most complete financial infrastructure ever built on a blockchain.

How Every Era of Money Removed a Middleman

Ancient economies ran on barter, trading grain for cattle, salt for silk, and labor for shelter. That system worked within small communities where both parties held what the other needed.

However, it collapsed under its own limits. You cannot carry livestock to a market and expect a clean trade every time.

Coins and precious metals solved that problem. Gold and silver gave value a portable, universal form. For centuries, commerce expanded on the back of metal currency. Then governments stepped in, replacing metal with paper, and banks took control of the system entirely.

Wire transfers and SWIFT later allowed money to cross oceans for the first time. Yet the cost remained steep, ranging between $10 and $50 per transaction.

Settlements took days, not seconds. Worse, correspondent banking required roughly $27 trillion locked in idle accounts just to function.

Bitcoin arrived as the first serious break from centralized control. It proved that value could travel without a bank acting as intermediary.

But Bitcoin was slow, expensive, and never designed for everyday payments. The architecture that actually completed the journey came next.

Why XRPL Closes the Chapter That Bitcoin Opened

RippleXity described the arc plainly on X: “From Barter to Blockchain. The Story of Money and Why XRPL Is the Final Chapter.” XRPL was the first blockchain to support native tokenization of any currency.

Dollars, euros, yen, and reais can all be issued and traded directly on the ledger. No smart contracts, no complex programming, just trustlines, tokens, and a built-in decentralized exchange.

The numbers behind the ledger reflect that ambition. It processes up to 1,500 transactions per second at fractions of a penny per transfer.

Settlement completes in three to five seconds. The network also operates on a carbon neutral model, which matters to institutions with governance commitments.

Major financial players have already moved onto the ledger. Société Générale launched its euro stablecoin on XRPL. SBI Holdings issued a $65 million on-chain bond through the platform.

Braza Bank brought a Brazilian real stablecoin to the ledger as well. Ripple’s own RLUSD stablecoin has crossed $1.5 billion in market capitalization.

Ripple now counts over 300 financial institutions in its network and has processed more than $100 billion in volume.

The company has applied for a Federal Reserve master account and filed VASP licenses across multiple jurisdictions. Every stage of money’s history removed one layer of friction. XRPL appears to have removed the rest.

The recent guidance from the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission establishing a taxonomy for digital assets put a “final nail” in the coffin of SEC policy under former Chairman Gary Gensler, according to Alex Thorn, the head of firmwide research at investment firm Galaxy.

The SEC guidance, published on Tuesday, established a taxonomy for digital assets, dividing them into five categories, including digital commodities, digital collectibles like non-fungible tokens (NFTs), digital tools, stablecoins, and tokenized securities. 

Under the old SEC policy framework, the regulations governing which cryptocurrencies met the legal criteria of “investment contracts” were legislative rules, as opposed to the new 2026 guidance that was filed as an interpretive rule, Thorn said. He explained the significance:

“The distinction matters enormously under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA). A legislative rule or substantive rule goes through notice-and-comment rule-making, has the force and effect of law, and binds both the agency and regulated parties. 

An interpretive rule is exempt from notice-and-comment requirements, does not have the force of law, and merely explains how the agency understands existing statutory provisions,” he continued. 

The interpretive rule does not legally bind courts to enforce the policies, which gives the SEC and the crypto industry flexibility in adapting to future regulatory changes, he added.

The new regulatory approach gives the crypto industry much-needed clarity over the next 30 months, Thorn Said; however, he clarified that the CLARITY crypto market structure bill must be codified into law to cement the rules over the next several decades. 

Related: SEC interpretation on crypto laws ‘a beginning, not an end,’ says Atkins

The CLARITY Act stalls, but rumors emerge of a tentative deal between White House and lawmakers

The CLARITY Act stalled in January 2025, after crypto exchange Coinbase and other industry players voiced concerns over the prohibition on stablecoin yield and a lack of protections for open-source software developers.

Crypto companies and industry thought leaders also cited provisions that would effectively gut the decentralized finance (DeFi) sector by imposing reporting requirements and know-your-customer controls on DeFi as a major cause of contention. 

On Friday, Politico published a report of a tentative deal between the White House and lawmakers to move the CLARITY bill forward.

Specific details of the prospective deal have not yet been revealed, although Senator Angela Alsoboorks said the tentative deal includes a ban on stablecoin yield from “passive balances.” 

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026