Key Takeaways

• Paramount Skydance (PSKY) declined approximately 7.7% on Tuesday, closing at $10.37
• Bank of America reduced its price target from $13 down to $11 while maintaining its “Underperform” stance
• Fitch downgraded the company’s credit rating to junk territory; S&P issued a negative watch warning
• The shares have completely wiped out the 21% rally that followed the Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition announcement on Feb. 27
• Year-to-date, PSKY has fallen 21.8% and trades 47.8% beneath its 52-week peak

Paramount Skydance emerged victorious in the battle for Warner Bros. Discovery. But investors are now questioning: was the price too high?

Shares of PSKY tumbled approximately 7.7% during Tuesday’s trading session, settling at $10.37. This marks the sixth decline in seven trading days. The stock has completely erased the impressive 21% jump it experienced on Feb. 27, following the company’s announcement of its Warner Bros. Discovery acquisition after Netflix exited the bidding process.

Paramount Skydance Corporation Class B Common Stock, PSKY

The sharp decline followed Bank of America Securities analyst Jessica Reif Ehrlich’s decision to maintain her Underperform rating while cutting her price objective from $13 down to $11. Her analysis painted a challenging picture: while the merger offers long-term upside potential, the path to achieving it remains lengthy and filled with uncertainties.

“PSKY had already been undergoing an integration process from the Paramount Skydance merger — which had only just begun — and now would be adding an even larger entity to the mix,” Ehrlich noted in her research.

The context is crucial. Paramount and Skydance Media finalized their combination just last summer. CEO David Ellison, whose father Larry Ellison co-founded Oracle, had only recently begun that integration work before taking on an acquisition approximately double in size.

Mounting Debt Concerns Spook Investors

The balance sheet situation is causing unease among market participants. Upon completion of the Warner Bros. transaction, Paramount will carry a net debt-to-EBITDA multiple of 4.3, even after accounting for anticipated cost savings. Management believes it can reduce this ratio to an investment-grade 3-to-1 level within a three-year timeframe — however, credit rating agencies are responding now.

Fitch Ratings has lowered PSKY’s credit rating into junk territory. S&P Global Ratings has put the company under negative credit watch. Adding to investor concerns, the deal has attracted political scrutiny due to financing arrangements that partially involve Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds.

The merged entity would create an entertainment powerhouse. Combined, Paramount Pictures and Warner Bros. command roughly 30% of the domestic box office market, bringing together beloved franchises such as Star Trek, Harry Potter, and DC Comics properties. The deal also unites major television networks including CBS, TNT, and CNN.

Rising Content Expenditures

Ellison has demonstrated an aggressive spending approach. Paramount has already locked in rights agreements for South Park and UFC programming through TKO Group. Bank of America’s research highlighted that PSKY “paid well above the next best offer for both of these deals.”

The studio plans to distribute 30 theatrical releases annually — 15 from each production house — while simultaneously expanding streaming content production. Ehrlich characterized this production volume as “a significant undertaking” with unpredictable results.

The NFL presents another major financial question mark. Paramount currently holds a portion of the league’s broadcast rights and seeks renewal in the upcoming negotiation cycle. BofA cautioned the company faces a difficult choice: either lose the package to a competitor willing to pay more, or commit to a substantial price increase to retain it.

PSKY has dropped 21.8% since the beginning of the year. Trading at $10.31, the stock sits 47.8% below its 52-week high of $19.73 reached in September 2025. Over the past twelve months, the stock has experienced 27 price swings exceeding 5%, illustrating the extreme volatility surrounding this equity.

Paramount chose not to provide commentary on Bank of America’s research report.

Bitcoin paused in choppy trading near the $70,000 mark as markets priced in geopolitical risk and shifting macro cues. After weeks of rangebound action, bulls are betting that a sustained push above the key level could unlock the next leg higher, while bears warn a breakdown remains a possibility if liquidity dries up. In the background, futures open interest has shown signs of revival in recent days, signaling fresh positions and mounting leverage that could amplify price swings into the spring. With traders watching the chart from multiple angles, the next moves may hinge on whether support around $70,000 holds or a breakout above resistance emerges.

Key takeaways

• Bitcoin remains stuck in a narrow range around $70,000, with many market participants awaiting a decisive breakout above or below the level.
• Open interest in Bitcoin futures has risen over the past 30 days, suggesting new positions and heightened leverage that could fuel increased volatility.
• Analysts highlight risk of liquidity-driven moves, including potential sweeps of the $64,000 liquidity pool if price action weakens toward the monthly and weekly opens around $66,000–$66.9K.
• A move above $72,000–$73,000 could shift attention to the $74,000–$76,000 area as the next point of interest for bulls.
• Macro risk sentiment, regulatory signals, and liquidity conditions remain critical drivers shaping the near-term trajectory.

Tickers mentioned: $BTC

Market context: The trading backdrop is defined by a cautious mood as macro headlines and geopolitical tensions influence risk appetite, while futures data points to growing leverage that could widen price swings.

Why it matters

The price action around $70,000 is more than a technical milestone; it acts as a proxy for ongoing sentiment about Bitcoin’s ability to sustain a new leg higher after a protracted consolidation. If Bitcoin can establish $70,000 as a reliable support, traders anticipate a renewed push toward higher bands—potentially into the high $70,000s and beyond toward the low $80,000s by month’s end. Conversely, a failure to defend the level could invite a test of lower supports as risk-off flows and stop-loss clustering generate cascading moves.

Market commentary from prominent voices underscores the duality. Some traders see $70,000 as a critical inflection point: a successful hold could set the stage for a breakout, while a breach could accelerate selling pressure, especially if liquidity providers trigger tighter risk controls. In particular, a handful of analysts emphasized that the market remains vulnerable to rapid swings if leveraged positions unwind in the wake of rising open interest. They point to recent dynamics in which fresh long exposure compounds downside risk and raises the likelihood of abrupt reversals when bids disappear at key levels.

From a technical perspective, the longer-term structure continues to point sideways unless a clear breakout or breakdown emerges. The last weekly candle’s behavior and the ongoing consolidation suggest that traders await a conclusive cue before committing capital in large size. The market’s sensitivity to macro triggers is evident in the way traders frame risk-reward around the $66,000–$64,000 liquidity pockets, which could be targeted in a dip if $70,000 fails as support and retail and institutional players re-strategize around risk controls.

On the upside, the literature of potential targets remains clear. A move above the 72,000–73,000 area could reorient the narrative toward a new zone around $74,000–$76,000, where previously observed liquidity clusters and order-flow dynamics may define the next major milestone. Market observers who emphasize this path argue that as long as $70,000 continues to act as a magnetic point for bids and offers, bulls will keep the door open for a sustained advance into the mid-to-high $70,000s. On the other side, bears stress that if the market cannot sustain gains beyond short-term liquidity spikes, a retest of the monthly open near $66,000 could occur, potentially drawing in stop-loss activity that accelerates the move to the downside.

In a broader sense, the story is not only about price levels but about market mechanics. The 30-day Open Interest change has signaled a transition from a quiet period to a renewed phase of position-building, a sign that participants are more willing to contemplate larger bets. This shift, combined with ongoing macro uncertainty, suggests that Bitcoin could experience a more volatile environment in the weeks ahead as traders adjust to evolving risk appetite and hedging activity. The dynamic invites caution, but it also leaves room for significant upside if price action confirms a sustained bid above critical thresholds.

What to watch next

• Whether BTC can defend the $70,000 level as support in the coming sessions, paving the way for a sustained break above $73,000.
• Short-term liquidity risk around the $64,000–$66,000 zone, where a sweep could trigger further volatility if price moves toward the monthly or weekly opens.
• Shifts in open interest and leverage on futures platforms over the next few weeks, as noted by CryptoQuant’s Quicktake analysis on rising Open Interest.
• Price action around the $74,000–$76,000 area as the next potential magnet for bulls if higher-timeframe momentum resumes.
• Macro and regulatory developments that could alter risk sentiment and liquidity provision in cryptocurrency markets.

Sources & verification

• CryptoQuant Quicktake: Bitcoins Open Interest Is Rising Again—Volatility Ahead (30-day OI trend and implications for leverage).
• BTC price observations and chart references from TradingView (BTC/USD price action and notable levels around $70k).
• Cryptomorphic’s X-posts discussing rangebound price action and the bearish weekly candle context.
• KillaXBT’s X-posts identifying potential liquidation scenarios near key levels and next targets around 74–76k.
• Mark Cullen’s X-posts noting $70,000 as a critical level for potential range breaks or hold.
• Previous coverage noting resistance around $70,000 and the broader discussion of price dynamics (contextual reference to related analyses).

Bitcoin teeters at a pivotal price threshold as open interest rises

Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) has spent the midweek session hovering near the $70,000 level, with traders weighing a possible breakout against the risk of renewed volatility. The current setup reflects a clash between the bulls’ desire to push the market higher and the bears’ caution about a potential breakdown if buyers fail to convert the price into a sustained move. Across the market, sentiment is mixed: while some participants expect a move toward the high $70,000s and into the low $80,000s by month’s end, others warn that a break below the $66,000 region could catalyze a more pronounced downward sweep toward the lower end of the trading range.

In recent weeks, a steady uptick in Open Interest in Bitcoin futures signals the return of new positions and greater leverage. CryptoQuant’s Quicktake notes that the 30-day Open Interest change has entered a stronger recovery phase, implying that traders are layering on new bets as price action remains undecided. This dynamic can translate into heightened swings, as leveraged bets unwind or amplify intraday moves when liquidity concentrates around key levels. The market’s short-term risk therefore remains asymmetric: upside potential exists if buyers sustain momentum, but downside risk persists if demand wanes and liquidity providers pull back.

From a price-formation perspective, the path forward hinges on the daily and weekly clock. Several analysts mentioned that the weekly candle’s structure points to a sideways range unless a decisive breakout materializes. The neighborhood around $70,000 is repeatedly framed as a make-or-break zone; hold it, and bulls may attempt a breakout toward the upper echelon of the range, while a close below could invite a testing of the liquidity pools near $64,000 and the surrounding zones. Observers point to specific price landmarks as potential inflection points: a drop toward the monthly open around $66,000 or slightly below could trigger rapid liquidations, whereas a push above the current resistance band could direct attention to the $74,000–$76,000 corridor as the next waypoint.

Market participants also weigh the broader context. The narrative around Bitcoin’s price action remains tethered to macro risk sentiment and liquidity conditions, with a continued emphasis on whether the market can sustain bids beyond immediate support levels. In the near term, the landscape suggests that the next moves will be driven by how traders manage risk, how much new leverage enters the market, and how external shocks—ranging from geopolitical headlines to regulatory developments—shape risk appetite. While some indicators point to a favorable setup for bulls should the $70,000 threshold hold, others caution that a renewed burst of volatility could come swiftly if liquidity tightens and positions unwind.

As the week unfolds, the combination of recaptured open interest and cautious price action keeps Bitcoin at a delicate crossroads. The story is less about a single run and more about a sequence of micro-episodes that could culminate in a clearer directional cue. For market participants, the immediate question remains whether the congestion around $70,000 will resolve in a durable breakout or a renewed test of support, a distinction that will likely dictate the tone of trading in the weeks ahead.

The euro is strengthening after declining earlier in the week. During the first trading sessions the single currency remained under pressure, but was later followed by a sharp rebound. The recovery was supported by easing geopolitical tensions in the Middle East, where signs have emerged of a slowdown in the escalation surrounding Iran. The reduction in geopolitical risks has weakened demand for safe-haven assets and allowed European currencies to partially recover their losses.

At the same time, market participants remain cautious as important inflation figures from both the eurozone and the United States are due to be released soon.

Inflation data remain a key factor shaping expectations for the future policy path of central banks. Higher inflation in the US could strengthen the dollar by reinforcing expectations that the Federal Reserve will maintain a tight monetary policy stance. Meanwhile, accelerating inflation in Europe could support the euro, as it would strengthen arguments for the European Central Bank to keep interest rates elevated for a longer period.

Overall, the current movement in major euro pairs appears largely corrective, while the next directional move will likely depend on the upcoming macroeconomic releases.

EUR/USD

The EUR/USD pair began the current trading week with a price gap, after which it tested an important support level near 1.1510. However, the sharp decline attracted buyers and the price soon returned above 1.1600. Technical analysis suggests that the pair may advance towards the 1.1700–1.1740 area, as a bullish engulfing pattern has formed on the daily timeframe.

If the price settles below 1.1600, a renewed test of the recent low at 1.1510 may follow.

Key events for EUR/USD:

• today at 09:00 (GMT+2): Germany Consumer Price Index (CPI);
  today at 12:30 (GMT+2): Germany 10-year government bond auction;
• today at 14:30 (GMT+2): US Consumer Price Index (CPI).

EUR/JPY

A renewed test of the key support level at 182.40, observed at the beginning of the week, triggered a sharp rebound and pushed the pair above 183.00. If the news flow from the eurozone remains supportive, the pair could test the next important resistance levels in the 184.30–184.70 range.

A decisive move below 183.40 would invalidate the bullish scenario.

Key events for EUR/JPY:

• today at 14:30 (GMT+2): speech by Bundesbank representative Mauderer;
• today at 01:30 (GMT+2): Japan BSI Large Manufacturing Conditions Index.

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ICP has skyrocketed by double digits daily after a listing on a major Korean exchange.

Bitcoin’s adventure above $70,000 didn’t last long as the asset was rejected at $71,800 and now sits over two grand below that local peak.

Most larger-cap alts are also in the red today, as ETH continues to fight for the coveted $2,000 level. ICP and PI are among the few exceptions with notable gains today.

BTC Falls Below $70K

It was a week ago when the primary cryptocurrency reached a monthly high at $74,000 after gaining $11,000 since that Saturday low of $63,000 when the strikes in the Middle East began. However, it couldn’t keep marching forward, and the subsequent retracement drove it south to $68,000 over the weekend.

As the war only intensified during the weekend, BTC dipped to $65,600 on Monday morning alongside the legacy financial markets. However, it rebounded almost immediately, especially after US President Donald Trump claimed that the war was almost over. BTC climbed toward $70,000, and even though that resistance was too strong at first, the asset managed to reclaim it yesterday.

The bulls drove it to a six-day peak of $71,800, where it was rejected and pushed south. As of now, bitcoin trades well below $70,000, with a market capitalization of $1.390 trillion on CG. Its dominance over the altcoins has also declined, and it’s now below 57%.

ICP, PI in the Green

Although ETH is down by over 2% in the past day, it still trades inches above the coveted $2,000 level. BNB is down to $640 after a minor decline, while XRP has lost the $1.40 support. LINK has declined the most from the larger-cap alts, followed by HYPE, SOL, and ADA.

More losses are evident from ZEC, TAO, SKY, and UNI, while ICP has defied the overall market trend with a notable 12% surge to $2.7 after a listing by Upbit. Pi Network’s PI token is the other impressive gainer today, as a 6% increase has driven it to almost $0.23 as of now.

The total crypto market cap has decreased by around $50 billion daily to $2.450 trillion as of press time.

Against the backdrop of military developments in the Middle East, the situation in the oil market is evolving rapidly. Only two days have passed since 9 March, when we published a morning analytical note in which we:

→ highlighted the rise of XTI/USD above $100 and a sharp spike in volatility (as reflected by the ATR indicator);
→ outlined an ascending channel and pointed to signs of a bearish engulfing pattern, suggesting that sellers were gaining the initiative.

Subsequent price action in the following hours confirmed that selling pressure was strong enough to break below the lower boundary of the channel later that same day. This occurred amid statements from President Trump, and a wide bearish candle formed on the XTI/USD chart.

On 10 March, the former lower boundary of the channel (marked by red arrows) acted as resistance while traders closely monitored developments around the Strait of Hormuz. According to The Wall Street Journal, the International Energy Agency proposed the largest oil reserve release in its history, which added another bearish factor for the market.

Technical Analysis of the XTI/USD Chart

Today the oil market remains highly volatile. Although the ATR indicator is pointing lower, its readings remain far above typical levels.

The sequence of lower highs and lower lows in WTI prices over the past 36 hours outlines the structure of a potential downward trajectory (shown in red). However, the chart also suggests that sustained downside momentum remains uncertain. This is reflected in the aggressive rebound from yesterday’s low.

It is possible that the XTI/USD price may continue to fluctuate within the orange range defined by the bearish candle formed on 9 March until significant news emerges that could shift the current balance in the market. In particular, traders remain focused on the risks of further escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.

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Since the emergence of ChatGPT and chatbots, the artificial intelligence (AI) hype has evolved into “agentic payments,” billed as the next wave of internet commerce in which humans won’t be transacting.

It will be AI agents paying each other: The idea is simple: build automated payment rails using AI agents that traditional firms like credit card companies struggle with.

And the narrative around agentic payments is only growing, with crypto CEOs like Brian Armstrong and CZ hyping AI agents and McKinsey saying AI agents could mediate $3 trillion to $5 trillion of global consumer commerce by 2030.

This is where x402, an agentic payments protocol supported by a consortium that includes Coinbase, comes into play. The idea is ambitious: embed payments via stablecoins directly into the internet’s communication layer so software can charge other software automatically.

Supporters of x402 believe that the protocol could enable a new class of internet businesses built around tiny automated payments. Traditional payment rails, such as credit card networks, were designed for human commerce, not thousands of sub-cent payments between software services.

“Existing payment processors will find it difficult to onboard these merchants. Not because the technology is lacking, but because when a processor says yes to a merchant, it takes on that merchant’s risk,” said Noah Levine, a partner at a16z crypto.

Take the scenario Levine laid out as an example: an AI agent tasked by a human to complete research might call a specialized API tens of thousands of times. Each request might cost a fraction of a cent.

Over the course of a week, those calls might generate $40 in revenue for the developer running the service. Credit card firms struggle with these small payments and merchants, as they can’t verify them.

“Processors reject applicants they cannot underwrite. A tool with no website, no entity, and no track record is extremely difficult to underwrite,” Levine added.

On top of that, processing fees alone can exceed these micro payments, and payment processors usually require a middleman and an operating history before approving a merchant account.

X402 could solve this problem with agentic payments via stablecoins.

Even the name x402 itself hints at the project’s ambition. It references HTTP 402 — “Payment Required” — a status code reserved in the early days of the internet for a future where payments could be built directly into web requests. That vision never materialized in the traditional web, and the supporters of x402 think crypto rails could finally make it possible.

However, the problem is that the tech is still early and hasn’t translated into onchain use quite yet.

‘Mostly a mirage’

Onchain analysis from Artemis suggests that roughly half of observed x402 transactions reflect artificial activity, calling them “gamified” activities rather than genuine commerce.

“The x402 ‘agent payments’ boom is still mostly a mirage,” Artemis analyst wrote on X in February.

Recent daily snapshots show about 131,000 transactions generating roughly $28,000 in volume, with the average payment worth around $0.20.

The network has recorded sharper bursts of activity, including one day in February that logged 3.8 million transactions and roughly $2 million in volume. But onchain analysts at Artemis say much of that spike was due to infrastructure testing and experimental use.

Artemis categorizes these “gamed” transactions into two buckets: Self-dealing, where the same wallet acts as both buyer and seller, and wash trading, where the seller funds the buyer’s wallet, which then sends the money back immediately after the transaction.

In other words, a lot of the traffic running through the protocol today does not yet resemble commerce.

However, in these early days of network testing, such types of transactions are to be expected. “As teams move from testing to production and start serving real users, these percentages should naturally decline,” Artemis said.

“Open standards like x402 are designed to be permissionless and open, meaning no single entity governs every interaction – much like how no one ‘controls’ every computer using HTTP. Naturally, this means people will experiment with the system in sometimes unintended ways,” Erik Reppel, Head of Engineering for Coinbase Developer Platform and Founder of x402 told CoinDesk.

A $7 billion ecosystem?

This gap between what’s real and what’s “gamed” transaction can make the ecosystem look underwhelming at first glance.

And looking at the total ecosystem’s total market cap (aggregate value of all tokens and projects built within a network and not to be confused with the total market cap of the network’s token, as the token for x402 doesn’t exist), which currently is around $7 billion, seems out of sync with about $28,000 in daily payment volume.

Given the gap, some might even be ready to dismiss the thesis as wishful thinking, sort of like crypto gaming of the past with massive valuations and few users.

But CoinGecko’s category shouldn’t be taken at face value as it includes Chainlink’s LINK token, which has a market cap of $6.3 billion. LINK isn’t a pure-play x402 asset.

While Chainlink supports the protocol through integrations such as its Chainlink Runtime Environment, LINK predates x402 and plays a far broader role across other crypto infrastructure. Its inclusion in the category artificially inflates it, setting expectations too high for such a new protocol.

Still early?

While adjusting for the large contribution from LINK token’s market cap, the ecosystem may look closer to the reality of the transactions, the core challenge remains: the merchants that x402 is designed to serve are still rare.

The x402 protocol isn’t trying to replace cards or traditional payment systems. Instead, it’s targeting a new category of digital commerce — small automated services used by AI agents and software systems.

As AI tools make it easier to build and launch software, a growing number of developers are creating small, single-purpose services — data feeds, image processors, code-testing tools — designed to be consumed not by humans but by other software.

And that takes time.

“At its core, it’s a micropayments rail,” said an Artemis analyst. “Its true utility emerges at small transaction sizes, powering things like pay-per-use APIs, content generation, and agent coordination.

For now, however, those merchants remain rare at this stage of this new agentic commerce.

Earlier attempts at similar ideas in crypto have struggled to gain traction. Micropayment systems tied to the Lightning Network, browser monetization models like BAT$0.09734 ecosystem, and various decentralized compute marketplaces all promised new internet economies but often failed to attract sustained real-world usage.

The narrative around agentic commerce is growing faster than the usage that would justify it. The gap between the protocol’s ecosystem size and roughly $28,000 in daily payment volume shows that the infrastructure for agentic payments is arriving first, but the economy it’s meant to support may take longer to develop.

However, the vision behind x402 — an internet where AI agents seamlessly pay each other through stablecoins — remains compelling. “We’ll probably overestimate how fast agentic commerce takes off in the next year, but we’re largely underestimating what it can become in five,” said the Artemis analyst.

“When agentic commerce arrives, you’ll either have adopted the standard or you’ll be left behind.”

Data from on-chain analytics firm Santiment shows that Ethereum now has more than three times the number of holders as Bitcoin, showing the network’s broader adoption even as traders closely monitor ETH’s price.

Ethereum holders now triple Bitcoin’s, Santiment data shows

According to Santiment’s latest data, Ethereum (ETH) currently has around 182.7 million non-empty wallets, compared with roughly 58.5 million Bitcoin (BTC) wallets.

The data indicates that Ethereum has maintained a significant lead in wallet holders since February 2019, when the network first surpassed Bitcoin in total addresses with balances.

The gap has continued to widen in the years since, reflecting Ethereum’s role as the backbone for decentralized finance, stablecoins, NFTs and other blockchain applications that often require multiple wallet interactions.

Bitcoin, by contrast, is primarily used as a store of value, which typically results in fewer active addresses relative to its market size.

Despite the strong adoption metrics, Ethereum’s price has shown modest weakness in recent trading. ETH was trading at around $2,023 at the time of writing, down roughly 1.1% over the past 24 hours, as the broader crypto market consolidates.

Some traders believe the current price range could represent a critical accumulation zone. Crypto analyst Merlijn The Trader suggested that Ethereum is entering a “discount zone” similar to the structure that preceded its 2023 rally.

According to the analyst, the $2,000 level is the key threshold to watch. Holding above that mark could potentially trigger the next major bullish wave for ETH, while a breakdown below it could extend the current correction.

TLDR:

• Ripple will acquire BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd to secure its Australian Financial Services License in 2026.
• The AFSL enables Ripple Payments to manage the full transaction lifecycle, from compliance to final payout settlement.
• Ripple’s APAC payments volume nearly doubled year-on-year in 2025, reflecting strong demand across the region.
• Ripple now holds over 75 regulatory licenses globally, making it one of the most licensed crypto firms worldwide.

Australian Financial Services License (AFSL) acquisition plans mark Ripple’s latest regulatory move in Asia Pacific. The blockchain payments company announced the strategy on March 11, 2026, in Sydney.

Ripple will obtain the license through a proposed acquisition of BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd. The move enables Ripple to deliver a fully licensed, end-to-end payments platform. Financial institutions, fintechs, and enterprises in Australia are the primary targets of this expansion.

How Ripple Plans to Secure the AFSL

The AFSL acquisition proceeds through BC Payments Australia Pty Ltd, a local entity. Standard completion processes must be finalized before the deal closes.

Once secured, the license covers the full lifecycle of a transaction. This includes onboarding, compliance, FX, liquidity management, and final payout.

Ripple Payments will integrate both traditional banking rails and digital assets under the license. Direct oversight of settlement becomes possible through this structure.

The company can also connect customers to local payout partners more efficiently. Transaction routing optimization adds further value to the platform.

Fiona Murray, Ripple’s Managing Director for Asia Pacific, spoke directly on the development. “Licensing is fundamental to Ripple’s strategy, ensuring we can deliver secure, compliant solutions to customers worldwide,” she said.

She added that the AFSL “strengthens our ability to scale Ripple Payments across the region.” Murray further noted that the company remains “focused on working closely with regulators to support the next phase of growth for digital asset infrastructure.”

Ripple’s existing Australian customers include Hai Ha Money Transfer, Novatti Group, and Independent Reserve. Flash Payments, Caleb & Brown, and Stables also form part of that client base.

These partnerships reflect strong regional demand for Ripple’s infrastructure. APAC payments volume for the company nearly doubled year-on-year in 2025.

Ripple’s Regulatory Standing Across the APAC Region

Ripple’s AFSL pursuit builds on a broad global licensing strategy already in place. The company is among the most licensed crypto firms operating in the world today.

Few digital asset companies operate under this level of regulatory oversight. That standing gives Ripple an advantage as institutions modernize their payment systems.

The company also participates actively in Project Acacia. This initiative is led by the Reserve Bank of Australia and the Digital Finance Cooperative Research Centre.

Ripple works directly with regulators through the program to advance digital asset frameworks. Such engagement reflects a consistent commitment to policy collaboration across the region.

Murray also emphasized the role of blockchain technology in delivering results for customers. “By leveraging blockchain technology and digital assets, we enable customers to move value globally with greater speed, transparency, and reliability,” she stated.

That capability is central to Ripple’s regional growth plan. It also addresses a clear need among financial institutions shifting away from legacy infrastructure.

As institutions migrate from legacy technology to modern infrastructure, regulatory compliance grows in importance. Ripple’s licensing approach supports that transition directly.

The AFSL adds credibility to Ripple’s operations in Australia. The company continues expanding its regulated footprint to meet growing regional demand.

Key takeaways

• BIP-360 formally puts quantum resistance on Bitcoin’s road map for the first time. It represents a measured, incremental step rather than a dramatic cryptographic overhaul.

• Quantum risk primarily targets exposed public keys, not Bitcoin’s SHA-256 hashing, making public key exposure the central vulnerability developers aim to reduce.

• BIP-360 introduces Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR), which removes Taproot’s key path spending option and forces all spends through script paths to minimize elliptic curve exposure.

• Smart contract flexibility remains intact, as P2MR still supports multisig, timelocks and complex custody structures via Tapscript Merkle trees.

Bitcoin was built to withstand hostile economic, political and technical scenarios. As of March 10, 2026, its developers are preparing to confront an emerging threat: quantum computing.

The recent publication of Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 360 (BIP-360) officially adds quantum resistance to Bitcoin’s long-term technical road map for the first time. While some headlines portray it as a dramatic shift, the reality is far more measured and incremental.

This article explores how BIP-360 introduces Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR) to reduce Bitcoin’s quantum exposure by removing Taproot key path spending. It explains what the proposal improves, what trade-offs it introduces and why it does not yet make Bitcoin fully post-quantum secure.

Why quantum computing poses a risk to Bitcoin

For security, Bitcoin depends on cryptography, primarily the Elliptic Curve Digital Signature Algorithm (ECDSA) and Schnorr signatures introduced via Taproot. Regular computers cannot realistically derive a private key from a public key. However, a powerful quantum computer running Shor’s algorithm could break elliptic curve discrete logarithms, exposing those keys.

Key distinctions include:

• Quantum attacks hit public-key cryptography hardest, not hashing.

• Bitcoin’s SHA-256 remains relatively strong against quantum methods. Grover’s algorithm only provides a quadratic speedup, not an exponential one.

• The real risk appears when public keys become exposed on the blockchain.

This is why the community focuses on public key exposure as the primary quantum risk vector.

Bitcoin’s vulnerabilities in 2026

Not every address type in the Bitcoin network faces the same level of future quantum threat:

• Reused addresses: Spending reveals the public key onchain, leaving it exposed to a future cryptographically relevant quantum computer (CRQC).

• Legacy pay to public key (P2PK) outputs: Early Bitcoin transactions directly embedded public keys in transaction outputs.

• Taproot key path spends: Taproot (2021) offers two paths: a compact key path (which exposes a tweaked public key on spend) or a script path (which reveals scripts via a Merkle proof). The key path is the main theoretical weak point under a quantum attack.

BIP-360 directly targets that key path exposure.

What BIP-360 introduces: P2MR

BIP-360 adds a new output type, Pay-to-Merkle-Root (P2MR), modeled closely on Taproot but with one critical change. It removes the key path spending option entirely.

Instead of committing to an internal public key like Taproot, P2MR commits solely to the Merkle root of a script tree. To spend:

No public key based spending route exists at all.

Eliminating key path spends means:

• No public key exposure for direct signature checks.

• All spending routes rely on hash-based commitments.

• Long-term elliptic curve public key exposure drops sharply.

Hash-based methods are far more resilient to quantum attacks than elliptic curve assumptions. This significantly shrinks the attack surface.

What BIP-360 preserves

A common misconception is that dropping key path spending weakens smart contracts or scripting. It does not. P2MR fully supports:

• Multisig setups

• Timelocks

• Conditional payments

• Inheritance schemes

• Advanced custody

BIP-360 executes all these functions via Tapscript Merkle trees. While the process retains full scripting capability, the convenient but vulnerable direct signature shortcut disappears.

Did you know? Satoshi Nakamoto briefly acknowledged quantum computing in early forum discussions, suggesting that if it became practical, Bitcoin could migrate to stronger signature schemes. This shows that upgrade flexibility was always part of the design philosophy.

Practical implications of BIP-360

BIP-360 may sound like a purely technical refinement, but its impact would be felt at the wallet, exchange and custody levels. If activated, it would gradually reshape how new Bitcoin outputs are created, spent and secured, especially for users prioritizing long-term quantum resilience.

• Wallets could introduce opt-in P2MR addresses (likely starting with “bc1z”) as a “quantum-hardened” choice for new coins or long-term holdings.

• Transactions will be slightly larger (more witness data from script paths), potentially raising fees somewhat compared to Taproot key path spends. Security trades off against compactness.

• A full rollout would require updates to wallets, exchanges, custodians and hardware wallets. Planning should start years in advance.

Did you know? Governments are already preparing for “harvest now, decrypt later” risks, where encrypted data is stored today in anticipation of future quantum decryption. This strategy mirrors concerns about exposed Bitcoin public keys.

What BIP-360 explicitly does not do

While BIP-360 strengthens Bitcoin in the face of future quantum threats, it is not a sweeping cryptographic overhaul. Understanding its limits is just as important as understanding its innovations:

• No automatic upgrade for existing coins: Old unspent transaction outputs (UTXO) remain vulnerable until users manually move funds to P2MR outputs. Migration depends on user behavior.

• No new post-quantum signatures: BIP-360 does not replace ECDSA or Schnorr with lattice-based (for example, Dilithium or ML-DSA) or hash-based (for example SPHINCS+) schemes. It only removes the Taproot key path exposure pattern. A full base layer transition to post-quantum signatures would require a much larger change.

• No complete quantum immunity: A sudden CRQC breakthrough would still require massive coordination among miners, nodes, exchanges and custodians. Dormant coins could create complex governance issues and network stress could follow.

Why developers are acting now

Quantum progress is uncertain. Some believe it is decades away. Others point to IBM’s late 2020s fault-tolerant goals, Google’s chip advances, Microsoft’s topological research and US government transitions planned for 2030-2035.

Critical infrastructure migrations take many years. Bitcoin’s developers stress planning across BIP design, software, infrastructure and user adoption. Waiting for certainty in quantum progress could leave insufficient time for infrastructure upgrades.

If consensus builds, a phased soft fork could unfold:

1. Activate the P2MR output type

2. Wallets, exchanges and custodians add support

3. Gradual user migration over years

This mirrors the optional then widespread adoption of SegWit and Taproot.

The broader debate around BIP-360

Debate continues on urgency and costs. Questions under discussion include:

• Are modest fee increases acceptable for HODLers?

• Should institutions lead the migration?

• What about coins that never move?

• How should wallets signal “quantum safety” without causing unnecessary alarm?

This is an ongoing conversation. BIP-360 advances the discussion but does not close it.

Did you know? The idea that quantum computers could threaten cryptography dates back to 1994, when mathematician Peter Shor introduced Shor’s algorithm, long before Bitcoin existed. Bitcoin’s future quantum planning is essentially a response to a 30-year-old theoretical breakthrough.

What users can do right now

There is no need to panic for now, as quantum threats are not imminent. Prudent steps you might take include:

• Never reuse addresses

• Stick to up-to-date wallet software

• Follow protocol upgrade news

• Watch for P2MR support in wallets

Those with large holdings should quietly map exposures and consider contingency plans.

BIP-360: The first step toward quantum resistance

BIP-360 represents Bitcoin’s first concrete step toward reducing its quantum exposure at the protocol level. It redefines how new outputs can be created, minimizes public key leaks and sets the stage for long-term migration planning.

It does not change existing coins automatically, keeps current signatures intact and underscores the need for a careful, coordinated ecosystem-wide effort. True quantum resistance will come from sustained engineering and phased adoption, not a single BIP.

ICP soared by 16% after being listed on South Korea’s largest exchange, but will the momentum last?

Internet Computer (ICP) saw its price explode by roughly 16% following its listing on South Korea’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Upbit.

The altcoin’s value rose from around $2.35 to a high of $2.73 within minutes of the announcement. Trading pairs include ICP/KRW, ICP/BTC, and ICP/USDT.

In case you’re wondering, exchange listings on major centralized venues have historically led to considerable price increases for newly listed cryptocurrencies. This is especially true for altcoins with thinner market depth, where it’s easier to move the price with smaller amounts.

Upbit is currently the third-largest centralized spot exchange in the world, with a 24-hour trading volume of around $1.16 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, trailing only Binance and Coinbase.

ICP is the 47th largest cryptocurrency by means of total market capitalization ($550M) and around $147 million in 24-hour trading volume – a metric that’s a whopping 170% up in the past day, showcasing the impact of the listing.

Usually, though, these moves are not as sustainable and result in reversals, but it’s interesting to see if ICP will follow a similar path.