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NFTs After the Hype: IP, Utility and the Fight to Stay Relevant

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A small group of collections has moved beyond crypto-native speculation and into consumer-facing brands. Pudgy Penguins has continued to present itself as a broader IP business, with recent CoinDesk Research describing more than $13 million in retail sales and over 2 million units sold, while Doodles now frames itself less as a pure collection and more as a creative platform built around content, AI, and brand expansion.

Indeed, the NFT sector has become more selective, with utility-led and gaming-linked activity holding up better than the broad speculative frenzy that defined the earlier cycle.

While a handful of projects are trying to build durable intellectual property, the long tail of profile-picture collections continues to fade.

BeInCrypto asked three industry experts how the NFT market is restructuring, and what will determine which projects survive.

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Brand Equity vs. On-Chain Scarcity

The divide now sits at the center of the NFT market’s recovery: whether value can be sustained through real-world brand equity, or whether it still depends on on-chain scarcity.

Federico Variola, CEO of Phemex, is skeptical that most projects can successfully make that transition.

“There are still some difficulties in tying the value of NFTs to brand equity in the physical world when there isn’t a clear revenue or distribution funnel.”

In his view, the core issue is that many NFT brands have yet to prove they generate meaningful business outcomes outside of crypto.

“Because of that, I think the real value of NFTs has always been rooted in on-chain scarcity.”

As market sentiment around scarcity weakened, projects began searching for alternative narratives, from media expansion to merchandise, but often without a clear product-market fit.

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“As a result, many of these brands are now stuck trying to pivot from on-chain scarcity toward real-world positioning without having a product-market fit.”

That helps explain why a large share of collections remain significantly below their peak valuations.

Fernando Lillo Aranda, Marketing Director at Zoomex, takes the opposite view. For him, the market has already moved past scarcity as a primary driver of value.

“Most NFTs won’t recover – and they probably shouldn’t. Scarcity alone was never a sustainable value proposition.”

He argues that verification on-chain does not create demand on its own.

“The market learned the hard way that being ‘on-chain’ doesn’t make something valuable – it just makes it verifiable. And verification without demand is irrelevant.”

Instead, he sees the surviving projects as those building real businesses around their IP.

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“The only NFTs that have a real future are the ones evolving into actual businesses and IP engines.”

“If your project can’t live outside of crypto, in retail, media, gaming, or culture, then it’s not an asset, it’s a speculation artifact from the last cycle.”

The disagreement relates to execution. The move toward IP-driven value is already underway.

The open question is how many NFT projects can operate as real businesses rather than speculative assets.

Gaming’s Reset: From Play-to-Earn to Play-to-Own

The failure of early NFT gaming models made the speculation versus sustainability debate impossible to ignore.

Play-to-Earn was built to reward users with tokens for activity. In practice, it depended on constant inflows of new players to support token prices. Once growth slowed, the model began to break down. Rewards turned into emissions, emissions turned into sell pressure, and in-game economies collapsed under their own weight.

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The recent migration is toward what many describe as Play-to-Own – a model that treats NFTs less as yield-generating assets and more as ownership layers within a game.

Anton Efimenko, co-founder at 8Blocks, sees this as a necessary correction in how value is structured.

“The core issue with Play-to-Earn was that it tried to financialize gameplay too early. When rewards are driven by token emissions rather than real demand, the system becomes inherently unstable.”

Instead of promising returns, newer models focus on utility and persistence. Assets are meant to retain relevance inside the game environment, rather than function as extractive instruments.

“Play-to-Own shifts the focus from extracting value to owning something that has utility within a functioning ecosystem. That reduces sell pressure and aligns players more closely with the long-term health of the game.”

This does not eliminate speculation, but it changes where it sits. Value is no longer tied to how quickly rewards can be realized, but to whether the underlying game can sustain engagement without relying on constant token incentives.

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Gaming has become one of the clearest testing grounds for this transition. If NFT-based ownership can hold value without emissions-driven rewards, it may offer a path forward. If not, the same issues are likely to resurface under a different name.

Tokenizing IP: Liquidity vs. Loyalty

As projects search for new ways to unlock value, one emerging direction is the tokenization of NFT IP itself.

In theory, that can broaden access, increase liquidity, and give communities a more direct stake in the commercial upside of a brand. But it also raises harder questions about governance, alignment, and loyalty.

Efimenko says the structure can create opportunities, but it also changes the incentives around ownership.

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“The moment NFT IP becomes more liquid, you invite a different class of participant. Some will care about the brand, but many will care mainly about price exposure and short-term upside.”

Of course, communities built around identity and culture do not function like ordinary token markets. The more tradable the asset becomes, the more likely decision-making is to shift toward actors with weaker long-term attachment to the project.

“Liquidity can help expand participation, but it can also fragment governance. If too much influence moves to holders who are financially motivated but not operationally aligned, brand direction becomes harder to manage.”

This leaves NFT projects in a difficult position. Broader financial access may strengthen the balance sheet, but it can also dilute the kind of committed holder base that many successful brands rely on.

Ultimately, a highly liquid community asset may be easier to trade, yet harder to build around over time.

Fixing Crypto-Native Gaming

Our analysis so far leaves one more question hanging: whether blockchain mechanics can restore trust in crypto-native gaming and gambling after years of broken incentives, opaque systems, and user fatigue.

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This is potentially where blockchain still offers a real advantage. Game logic, reward flows, and outcomes can be made transparent in ways that traditional platforms often cannot match. Provably fair mechanics give users a way to verify that systems are functioning as claimed, rather than simply trusting the operator.

But transparency alone is not enough to rebuild confidence.

As Lillo Aranda puts it:

“The market learned the hard way that being ‘on-chain’ doesn’t make something valuable – it just makes it verifiable. And verification without demand is irrelevant.”

The same logic applies to gaming. Verifiable mechanics can help solve the trust problem, especially in areas like crypto gambling or reward distribution, but they do not solve the product problem. If the game is weak, the economy is extractive, or the user experience feels designed around monetization rather than entertainment, transparency will not save it.

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The sector’s next phase may well be a test of whether crypto products can combine fair mechanics with actual player retention. In that sense, blockchain may help restore trust, but only if the game itself is worth trusting.

Final Thoughts

The NFT market is being forced into a more selective phase, where value has to come from something more durable than hype alone.

Variola’s comments point to the limits of the current pivot. Many projects are trying to move from scarcity-led speculation into real-world branding without a clear business model or product-market fit.

Lillo Aranda furthers the argument, suggesting that only the collections capable of operating as actual IP businesses are likely to retain relevance over time.

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Efimenko, meanwhile, highlights the challenge underneath both views: ownership design, token incentives, and governance all shape whether a project can remain stable as it grows.

NFTs are not disappearing, but they are becoming harder to justify as pure collectibles. The projects that endure are more likely to be the ones that can build beyond the chain, sustain user demand, and give digital ownership a function that lasts longer than a speculative cycle.

The post NFTs After the Hype: IP, Utility and the Fight to Stay Relevant appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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Who Really Owns All the Ethereum? On-Chain Study Reveals Surprising Names

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Arkham Intelligence published a comprehensive breakdown of the largest Ethereum (ETH) holders in 2026, revealing that staking contracts, exchanges, and financial institutions now control most of the supply.

The report draws on on-chain data from the Arkham Intel Platform and covers entities ranging from centralized exchanges to individual pre-sale investors.

Staking and Exchanges Control Most ETH

The ETH2 Beacon Deposit Contract sits at the top of the list with over 82 million ETH, valued at approximately $169 billion.

That figure represents roughly 66% of the total ETH supply, locked by validators securing the network.

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Among exchanges, Coinbase leads with 4.2 million ETH ($8.6 billion), followed by Binance with 3.6 million ETH ($7.3 billion).

South Korean exchange Upbit ranks third at 1.7 million ETH. These holdings are custodial, held on behalf of users for trading, withdrawals, and staking services.

On the financial institution side, BlackRock holds over 3 million ETH ($6 billion) through its iShares Ethereum Trust ETF.

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Treasury company Bitmine has declared 4.7 million ETH in total, though only 914,000 ETH has been verified on-chain by Arkham.

Bitmine aims to accumulate 5% of the total ETH supply.

Individual Holders and Lost Fortunes

Among individuals, Estonian pre-sale investor Rain Lohmus technically owns the most ETH at 250,000 tokens worth $530 million.

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However, he lost access to his private keys after purchasing them for $75,000 during the 2014 presale.

Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin is the largest individual holder with accessible funds, holding 224,000 ETH ($480 million).

Ethereum Foundation Shifts From Selling to Staking

Separately, Arkham reported the Ethereum Foundation staked an additional $46.64 million in ETH, its largest single-day deployment.

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That brings the Foundation’s total staked amount to approximately $96.59 million.

The move is part of a broader plan announced in February to stake 70,000 ETH from its treasury. Staking rewards will fund research, ecosystem grants, and protocol development.

The Foundation previously relied on periodic ETH sales, which drew community criticism for creating sell pressure.

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With institutions, exchanges, and now the Ethereum Foundation itself locking supply into validators, the distribution of ETH increasingly favors long-term holders over liquid markets.

The post Who Really Owns All the Ethereum? On-Chain Study Reveals Surprising Names appeared first on BeInCrypto.

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World Liberty Financial Under Ethics Fire: Can WLFI Crypto Survive Corruption Allegations?

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World Liberty Financial Under Ethics Fire: Can WLFI Crypto Survive Corruption Allegations?

World Liberty Financial (WLFI) crypto is structured to funnel 75% of net revenues to DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Delaware entity tied directly to Donald Trump and his family, while insulating them from any legal or financial liability for the project’s operations.

House Democrats published a staff report on November 24 describing WLFI as the centerpiece of what it calls presidential self-dealing on an unprecedented scale, with Representative Jamie Raskin stating that Trump has “turned the Oval Office into the world’s most corrupt crypto startup operation.”

The conflict-of-interest mechanism is direct and unambiguous. Donald Trump simultaneously controls crypto policy from the White House and holds a dominant financial stake in a DeFi project whose commercial value depends on the regulatory environment he shapes. That is not a perception problem – it is a structural one.

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Key Takeaways:

  • Revenue structure: 75% of WLFI net revenues flow to DT Marks DEFI LLC, a Trump family-linked entity, with no personal liability attached.
  • Scale of extraction: The Trump family has collected at least $890 million in revenues and holds WLF tokens valued at $3.8 billion, with no evidence of personal capital investment.
  • Foreign money: Justin Sun invested $75 million in WLFI tokens before his SEC fraud case was dropped; UAE-based Aqua 1 Foundation wired $100 million in stablecoins with unclear origins.
  • Token performance: WLFI tokens are down 50% from all-time highs; Trump and Melania memecoins have collapsed 91% and 99% respectively.
  • Banking expansion: On January 9, 2026, WLFI applied to the OCC for a national trust bank charter under World Liberty Trust Company, with Zach Witkoff listed as proposed president.
  • Political exposure: House Democrats’ Anti-Crypto Corruption Week scrutiny is escalating, with the November 24 report naming obstruction of justice, foreign influence, and self-dealing as core allegations.

What WLFI’s Revenue Structure Actually Means – and Why Ethics Experts Are Alarmed

The mechanics of World Liberty Financial’s compensation structure are what drive the ethics concerns, not the politics surrounding them.

Under the project’s Gold Paper, DT Marks DEFI LLC – the Trump family’s designated revenue vehicle – receives 75% of net revenues generated by the DeFi platform, while the legal wrapper around that entity specifically protects the Trump family from operational liability. The distinction matters because it creates a one-way financial relationship: profit flows to the Trumps, risk does not.

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) and other watchdog organizations have flagged this arrangement as without precedent in the relationship between a sitting president and an active commercial enterprise.

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The Trump family has extracted at least $890 million in revenues from WLFI while holding tokens currently valued at approximately $3.8 billion – with no documented personal capital investment at inception. That is not a founder’s equity stake built through risk-taking. It is a revenue claim backed by name recognition and political positioning.

WLFI Total Value Locked / Source: Tokenterminal

The foreign investment dimension compounds the structural problem significantly. Justin Sun, charged by the SEC for fraud and market manipulation, invested $75 million in WLFI tokens. His multibillion-dollar SEC case was subsequently dropped.

The UAE-based Aqua 1 Foundation, linked by analysts to entities with ties to China’s state-owned CNPC, wired $100 million in stablecoins to the project in summer 2025 – with Reuters reporting that the origins and expectations attached to that transfer remain opaque. A 60 Minutes report on November 17, 2025 further connected a $2 billion Binance-MGX deal settled in WLFI’s USD1 stablecoin to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao’s Trump pardon.

Crypto insiders have described WLFI as a mechanism for global influence-buying dressed as a DeFi project. Some institutional players, approached with what sources describe as “mutual investment” pitches, declined after concluding the arrangement crossed ethical lines.

The absence of institutional whales in WLFI’s order books – with retail participants dominating token purchases – suggests sophisticated capital has reached a similar conclusion.

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Can a President Profit From Crypto Policy? The Conflict WLFI Can’t Shake

Trump’s administration has moved aggressively on crypto-friendly policy reform since January 2025, and each legislative win that benefits the broader industry also directly benefits World Liberty Financial.

The GENIUS Act, which Trump endorsed to establish a stablecoin regulatory framework, creates legitimacy infrastructure for USD1 – WLFI’s own stablecoin – at exactly the moment the project needed it.

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The FIT21 regulatory framework, which restructures SEC and CFTC jurisdiction over crypto assets, would materially ease the compliance burden on DeFi platforms like WLFI.

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The SEC’s dramatically softened enforcement posture under the Trump administration is not a coincidence critics are willing to overlook, particularly given the Sun case. A president whose family holds $3.8 billion in tokens tied to a DeFi project has quantifiable financial incentives to reduce regulatory friction on DeFi.

The White House maintains that Trump’s assets are held in a trust managed by his children and that no conflicts exist. That framing is deliberate: a trust managed by the president’s children, in a project co-founded by those same children, is not a meaningful separation under any conventional ethics standard.

The evolving legal frameworks for DeFi entities make WLFI’s structural opacity harder to dismiss as a technicality. WLFI’s January 2026 OCC application for a national trust bank charter – listing Zach Witkoff as proposed president – would, if approved, extend the project’s reach into federally regulated banking infrastructure. The political and financial interests at stake are not abstract. They are denominated in billions and written into legislation.

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Riot Platforms Sells 3,778 Bitcoin in Q1 as Miner Strategy Shifts

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Riot Platforms Sells 3,778 Bitcoin in Q1 as Miner Strategy Shifts

Riot Platforms sold 3,778 Bitcoin in Q1 2026, netting $289.5 million-a volume that dwarfs its 1,473 BTC production for the same period by 2.6x.

The company ended Q1 with 15,680 BTC on its books, down 18% from the 18,005 coins it held at the close of 2025. That gap between what Riot mined and what it sold is the number that demands explanation.

Blockchain intelligence platform Arkham flagged a separate 500 BTC outflow from a wallet attributed to Riot on Thursday, suggesting the selling didn’t stop when Q1 closed.

Source: Arkham

The company is also pushing deeper into high-performance computing colocation, shifting its business model beyond pure mining toward infrastructure hosting-a pivot that requires capital, which partially explains the aggressive liquidation pace.

Energy costs are the other half of the story. Kadan Stadelmann, blockchain developer and co-founder of AI company Compance, said miners are selling because rising energy costs-worsened by the escalating Middle East conflict since February-are compressing margins across the industry.

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“This leads to a fall in hashrate and difficulty in Bitcoin mining. This makes it easier and more profitable to mine Bitcoins for those miners who remain online,” Stadelmann said, predicting further capitulation from less efficient operators.

Key Takeaways:
  • Sales volume: Riot sold 3,778 BTC in Q1 2026, generating $289.5 million against quarterly production of just 1,473 BTC.
  • Treasury drawdown: BTC holdings fell 18% quarter-over-quarter, from 18,005 to 15,680 BTC.
  • Power cost improvement: All-in power cost dropped 21% year-over-year to 3.0¢/kWh, even as selling accelerated.
  • Hash rate expansion: Deployed hash rate grew 26% to 42.5 EH/s, signaling infrastructure reinvestment over accumulation.
  • Power credits: Riot generated $21.0 million in power credits during Q1-more than double the prior year period.
  • Industry-wide selling: MARA Holdings, Genius Group, and Nakamoto Holdings sold a combined 15,501 BTC in the last week alone.

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Selling Above Production Rate – Operational Pivot or Distress Signal?

Selling 2.6x your quarterly production isn’t treasury management in the traditional sense-it’s a structural drawdown.

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That matters because it signals Riot isn’t just covering operating costs; it’s funding something larger, whether that’s hash rate expansion, colocation infrastructure buildout, or balance sheet repair ahead of continued Bitcoin price pressure.

The operational data cuts against a pure distress read, though. Riot improved its all-in power cost 21% year-over-year to 3.0¢/kWh and grew deployed hash rate 26% to 42.5 EH/s. It also generated $21.0 million in power credits during Q1-more than double the year-ago period-by leveraging renewable energy agreements and grid services.

Bitcoin (BTC)
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That’s not the profile of a miner bleeding out; it’s a miner reallocating capital aggressively into infrastructure while conditions remain volatile.

Riot isn’t alone. MARA Holdings, Genius Group, and Nakamoto Holdings sold a combined 15,501 BTC in the past week.

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Genius Group went further-liquidating its entire Bitcoin stash. The industry is clearly in a rotation away from passive accumulation toward active treasury management, a departure from the hodl-first playbook that defined miner strategy through the 2021 bull cycle. If Bitcoin prices don’t recover in Q2, watch for Riot’s treasury to test the 14,000 BTC level within two quarters at the current drawdown rate.

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Miner Selling and BTC Supply Pressure: How Much Does It Move the Market?

Bitcoin mining difficulty dropped from approximately 145 trillion to 133 trillion on March 20-a 7.7% decline-while network hash rate fell from 1,160 exahash to roughly 990 exahash as of Friday.

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Weaker miners are going offline, exactly as Stadelmann predicted, which structurally benefits survivors like Riot with lower difficulty and higher per-block rewards.

The supply side picture is more complicated when viewed against demand. Bitcoin ETFs snapped a four-month outflow streak with $1.32 billion in March inflows, meaning institutional demand is partially absorbing the miner supply hitting the market.

Riot alone doesn’t move BTC price-but Riot plus MARA plus Genius Group plus Nakamoto in the same week represents a coordinated pressure event that on-chain miner outflow metrics will reflect clearly.

The invalidation condition here is simple: if BTC reclaims and holds above $90,000 in Q2, Riot’s treasury logic flips from defensive liquidation to premature selling at cycle lows. Until that happens, the selling looks rational given the broader market pressure on holders and the rising cost environment compounding miner margin squeeze globally.

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U.S. March jobs smash expectations, with 178,000 added

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U.S. March jobs smash expectations, with 178,000 added

The U.S. employment market rebounded in a big way from February’s sizable losses.

According to a Friday morning release from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the country added 178,000 jobs in March, after losing 133,000 positions the previous month. Economist forecasts had been for 60,000 jobs to have been added.

The unemployment rate fell to 4.3% versus 4.4% in February and expectations for 4.4%.

At least part of the beat was due to a sizable downward revision in the February data from an originally reported decline of 92,000.

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Trading quietly near the $67,000 level in the hours ahead of the data, bitcoin remained there in the minutes just following the report.

Expectations about the future course of interest rates, of late, have been far more influenced by events in the Middle East and the price of crude oil than by the outlook for domestic economic growth.

As recently as last week, oil’s surging price had markets forecasting imminent rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. Speaking earlier this week, though, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank recognized that oil price shocks — while initially making headline inflation numbers look worse — can depress economic activity. He indicated the Fed would be in no hurry to raise rates in response to short-term moves in the price of crude.

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Bitcoin weathered 85% drawdown, eyes $34K

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Crypto Breaking News

Bitcoin’s drawdown narrative is shifting from a pattern of extreme collapses to a more mature market dynamic, according to Cathie Wood, the founder and CEO of ARK Invest. In a CNBC appearance on Squawk Box dated April 1, Wood argued that the era of 85% or greater corrections may be behind BTC, framing the asset as a proven technology and monetary tool rather than a volatile tech experiment.

Speaking amid a price backdrop around the 69,000 level—the prior all-time high reached in 2021—Wood’s remarks come after a long bear market that wiped out roughly 80% of BTC’s value before a bottom near 15,600. On-chain data, however, suggest the current downturn has not yet mirrored the depth seen in prior cycles. Glassnode data indicate the bear market’s maximum drawdown from BTC’s peak remains well short of past extremes, around 52% from the record high of about 126,200 in October 2025.

Key takeaways

  • ARK Invest’s Cathie Wood argues Bitcoin is past the era of 85%+ price collapses, framing BTC as a proven technology and monetary asset rather than a speculative fad.
  • Analysts disagree on the next significant price level: a chartist forecast points to roughly $34,000 as a bottom (a 72% drawdown), while consensus from broader coverage points to a range of roughly $40,000 to $50,000.
  • On-chain data show the bear market depth to date is shallower than in some previous cycles, with maximum drawdown around 52% from the all-time high, suggesting a potentially different extinction-like pattern for BTC.
  • April seasonality and near-term momentum remain in focus: some analysts see historical patterns of spring recoveries during bear phases, while macro headlines and liquidity conditions continue to influence the path forward.

Wood’s view: BTC’s maturation and the new normal

Wood’s comments came during a dialogue about Bitcoin’s long-run narrative. She stressed that the 85–95% declines associated with earlier, less mature markets are unlikely to recur for Bitcoin, a narrative she frames as evidence of BTC’s transformation into a validated monetary system and a new asset class. The remarks echo her longstanding bullish stance on Bitcoin, which has been a hallmark of ARK’s research orientation toward disruptive technologies.

At the time of her appearance, Bitcoin was hovering near the post-2021 high watermark—an area that previously marked the transition into a multi-quarter bear cycle. Wood’s perspective contrasts with the more cautious or range-bound themes that have dominated much of the current trading backdrop, where macro conditions, policy signals, and sector rotation often determine day-to-day moves.

That said, Wood’s optimism sits alongside a chorus of caution from other analysts who note that the road ahead remains data-driven and uncertain—a reminder that even as BTC stabilizes, macro headwinds can quickly reassert themselves.

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Forecasts diverge on the floor of the bear market

While Wood’s stance centers on BTC’s maturation, other voices point to specific downside scenarios. Tony Severino, a veteran market technician, floated a bottom near $34,000, implying a 72% drawdown from the peak. He summarized the trajectory in a post on X, suggesting that a decline to that level would mark a “max drawdown” consistent with a new phase for the asset.

Beyond Severino’s projection, broader market commentary remains split. A section of traders and analysts continues to anticipate a bottom in the higher $40,000s to low $50,000s, a range that Cointelegraph has cited in prior coverage as a common region for a generational floor rather than a catastrophic collapse. For some observers, the 40k–50k zone remains the anchor for a long-term re-rating of Bitcoin’s risk profile.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone has warned that prices could be trending toward seven-year lows, underscoring the risk that macro developments—such as central-bank policy and global liquidity—could extend the bear phase even as on-chain metrics offer a more nuanced view of drawdown depth.

Seasonality, on-chain signals, and what to watch next

Seasonality has long been cited as a potential internal driver of Bitcoin’s price path. Timothy Peterson, a network economist and commentator, highlighted a pattern in which April historically functions as a turning point during bearish cycles. A chart he shared on X illustrates April as a potential inflection month in past bear phases, though whether that dynamic repeats remains contingent on broader market conditions.

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March’s monthly close added a modest, 1.8% gain for BTC/USD, effectively ending a five-month losing streak. The move, while not dramatic, keeps the door open for a spring rebound, provided macro momentum aligns with technical and on-chain signals.

On-chain context adds another layer to the discussion. Glassnode’s analysis shows that the current bear market’s depth—though material—is not yet aligned with the most severe declines observed historically. The all-time high of roughly 126,200 in October 2025 has given way to a drawdown of about 52%, a figure that suggests the market could behave differently than in previous cycles if macro conditions stay supportive or liquidity improves.

For investors, this combination of on-chain resilience and mixed macro signals creates a nuanced backdrop. A Bitcoin trading environment shaped by a less severe drawdown yet ongoing external headwinds could translate into a more protracted consolidation rather than a sharp capitulation or a swift breakout. Observers will be watching for signs of sustained demand, improving liquidity in risk markets, and any shifts in policy that could alter the risk-reward calculus for crypto exposure.

As the calendar turns to April, market participants will parse a mix of seasonality whispers, data-driven cautions, and evolving macro narratives. The next several weeks could prove decisive in whether BTC resumes a broader uptrend, remains range-bound, or teeters on renewed volatility as external conditions shift.

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This article synthesizes observations from multiple sources, including Cathie Wood’s CNBC discussion, on-chain data from Glassnode, and commentary from market analysts such as Tony Severino and Mike McGlone, as well as prior coverage from Cointelegraph on price floors and seasonality in Bitcoin’s bear markets. Investors should treat forecasts as probabilistic scenarios rather than certainties and remain mindful of the evolving macro landscape that continues to shape crypto markets.

Risk & affiliate notice: Crypto assets are volatile and capital is at risk. This article may contain affiliate links. Read full disclosure

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Cartesi price jumps over 100% as it hits Stage 2 security status, can it go higher?

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Cartesi price has broken out of a descending parallel channel pattern on the daily chart.

Cartesi token soared over 100% to a 3-month high of $0.049 on Friday. Will the Layer 2 token edge higher over the coming sessions, or will it succumb to profit-taking?

Summary

  • Cartesi price surged over 100% to a three-month high amid a sharp rise in trading volume and a short squeeze.
  • The rally was driven by progress toward L2BEAT Stage 2 status and growing developer activity around Cartesi Machine deployments.
  • Technical indicators show overbought conditions and profit-taking signals, with CTSI price at risk of a pullback toward $0.030 support.

According to data from crypto.news, Cartesi (CTSI) price rallied nearly 110% to $0.049 on Friday, reaching its highest level since November 2022.

The rally came in a high-volume trading environment. In the past 24 hours,  the daily trading volume of Cartesi rose 1,260%, suggesting a sharp rise in demand from traders that likely buoyed the token toward its highs today.

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There are three main reasons why Cartesi price broke out today.

First, Cartesi’s Permissionless Refereed Tournament fraud-proof system is reportedly nearing the Stage 2 classification by L2BEAT. This milestone would rank it among the most secure and decentralized Layer 2 scaling solutions, setting it apart from competitors that still rely on permissioned validators.

Second, the project’s recent initiative to ship high-throughput applications reached critical implementation deadlines in April. Tangible developer interest in the Cartesi Machine, which allows decentralized apps to run on Linux, is finally translating from theoretical potential into live deployments.

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Third, after months of trading in a narrow range of $0.02 to $0.025, the sudden break above long-term resistance triggered a volatility spike. This caused a short squeeze, forcing bearish traders to buy back their positions and further fueling the massive gains seen today.

On the daily chart, Cartesi price has broken out of a multi-month descending parallel channel pattern, a sign that bulls have finally gained control of the market. It has already attained the target level from the breakout, suggesting there could be some selloff on the horizon.

Cartesi price has broken out of a descending parallel channel pattern on the daily chart.
Cartesi price has broken out of a descending parallel channel pattern on the daily chart — April 3 | Source: crypto.news

Such selloff risks also come as the relative strength index has crossed the overbought threshold. Crypto rallies often face some pullback when this metric hits an overbought state.

Additionally, the Chaikin Money Flow index showed a negative reading, a sign that investors have started to rotate capital or take profits at these higher levels.

Hence, the Cartesi token could likely retest its immediate support of $0.030 before its next leg higher.

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Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.

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Cathie Wood Sees No More 85% Bitcoin Price Drawdowns Versus All-Time Highs

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Cathie Wood Sees No More 85% Bitcoin Price Drawdowns Versus All-Time Highs

Bitcoin (BTC) is “done” with drawdowns of 85% or more from all-time highs, says ARK Invest CEO, Cathie Wood.

Key points:

  • Bitcoin will not see another correction of 85% or more versus its latest all-time high, Cathie Wood argues.

  • A new prediction sees $34,000 becoming the next BTC price bottom.

  • Bitcoin bear-market seasonality hints that a reversal could come this month.

Wood on BTC price: No more 85% “collapses”

In an interview with CNBC’s Squawk Box segment on April 1, Wood stayed calm about double-digit BTC price losses.

“Believe it or not, in the Bitcoin community, down 50% — if that’s as far as it goes — they’ll consider that a real victory,” she said.

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“Because you’re right; the 85-95% collapses associated with a very new technology — that’s done. This is a proven technology, it’s a proven monetary system and it’s a new asset class.”

Wood, a longtime Bitcoin bull, was speaking as Bitcoin circled its old $69,000 all-time highs from 2021.

Those preceded a year-long bear market in which BTC/USD lost nearly 80% before bottoming at $15,600. That marked the latest such correction, with bear markets typically bringing losses around the 80% mark.

Data from onchain analytics platform Glassnode shows that the current bear market has yet to match historical patterns with maximum downside versus Bitcoin’s $126,200 record from October 2025 at 52%.

BTC price drawdowns from all-time highs. Source: Glassnode

Responding to Wood, analyst Tony Severino predicted that 2026 would bring a price bottom equal to a 72% drawdown.

“Correct, -72% max drawdown next =$34,000,” he wrote on X.

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That figure exceeds commonly held predictions by traders for where Bitcoin’s next generational floor will be. As Cointelegraph reported, consensus favors the area between $40,000 and $50,000.

This week, however, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Mike McGlone warned that price may already be trending toward seven-year lows

Bitcoin historically rebounds in April

Continuing the bear-market comparison, data from network economist Timothy Peterson revealed that April could mark some form of inflection point for price.

Related: Bitcoin risks new lows as US dollar targets highest level since April 2025

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A chart uploaded to X this week shows April typically being a recovery month during bearish phases. 

Bitcoin bear-market price comparison. Source: Timothy Peterson/X

The March monthly close, meanwhile, ended a five-month losing streak for BTC/USD with modest gains of 1.8%.