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Vancouver City Staff Moves to Kill Bitcoin Reserve Plan Over Legal Barriers

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Nexo Partners with Bakkt for US Crypto Exchange and Yield Programs

TLDR:

  • Vancouver city staff found Bitcoin is not an allowable investment asset under the Vancouver Charter.
  • Mayor Ken Sim’s November 2024 motion sought to protect city reserves from inflation using Bitcoin funds.
  • British Columbia’s Ministry of Municipal Affairs cited undue risk in barring local governments from holding crypto.
  • Bitcoin dropped nearly 50% from its all-time high of $126,000, reinforcing provincial caution over crypto holdings.

Vancouver city staff has recommended that the city council rescind a motion to establish a Bitcoin reserve. A legal review concluded that cryptocurrency does not qualify as an allowable investment asset under provincial law.

Vancouver Charter Bars Bitcoin as a Reserve Asset

A formal report was recently submitted to the Vancouver City Council by city staff. The document outlined a clear recommendation to scrap the reserve motion entirely.

Staff determined that the Vancouver Charter does not permit Bitcoin as an investment vehicle for the city. The Charter is the provincial statute governing city operations in British Columbia.

The report was direct in its conclusion. “Staff has conclusively determined that under the Vancouver Charter, Bitcoin is not an allowable investment asset for the City, and therefore recommends that this work be concluded,” the document stated.

Beyond the legal issue, staff also pointed to the need to reprioritize internal resources. Coordination with other ongoing city programs further supported the recommendation to end this work.

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The Ministry of Municipal Affairs of British Columbia had previously addressed this matter directly. The ministry confirmed that local governments across the province are barred from holding cryptocurrency in reserve.

Officials cited exposure to undue risk as the core concern behind this restriction. That position from the province aligned closely with the findings in the staff report.

The Vancouver City Council had formally approved the motion in December 2024. Staff received direction to assess the proposal’s feasibility and return with findings by Q1 2025.

Despite the deadline passing, no report was publicly released until earlier this week. The delay raised questions about the transparency of the review process.

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Mayor’s Bitcoin Initiative Faces Legal and Financial Setbacks

The motion was originally brought forward in November 2024 by Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim. It aimed to diversify the city’s financial reserves and shield its purchasing power from inflation.

Sim openly called Bitcoin “the greatest invention in human history” while presenting the proposal. That statement drew both widespread attention and scrutiny from various observers at the time.

As part of the broader initiative, Sim pledged to personally donate $10,000 worth of Bitcoin to the city. The proposal also sought to allocate a portion of municipal funds directly into the cryptocurrency.

The stated purpose was to protect the city’s finances against inflation and long-term market volatility. However, those ambitions have now been formally halted by legal constraints.

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Bitcoin’s recent price history added another layer of concern to this debate. Since late 2024, the cryptocurrency reached an all-time high exceeding $126,000 before falling sharply.

It declined nearly 50%, dropping to lows near $63,000 over roughly four months. That level of volatility strengthened the provincial government’s caution about municipal crypto holdings.

At the time of reporting, Bitcoin was trading at approximately $70,534. The sharp price movements since late 2024 reinforced concerns from both city staff and provincial authorities.

The staff report, backed by the Vancouver Charter, appears to mark the end of the city’s crypto reserve ambitions.

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2 Reasons Why $35 Is a Critical Juncture for Hyperliquid (HYPE) Price

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Hyperliquid (HYPE) price is trading at $38.27, down 2.31% on the day, as a completed double top pattern and a dense liquidation cluster at $35.03 raise the odds of an accelerated leg lower.

The token has failed to hold gains above $42.67, and the price is now consolidating. Two independent signals now define the near-term trend line.

HYPE Long Traders Should Be Worried

The HYPE liquidation heatmap shows a dense band of leveraged long positions clustered around $35.03. Cumulative long liquidation leverage at that level totals $27.36 million. 

A move below $35.03 would trigger the forced closure of those positions in rapid succession. This would create mechanical selling pressure that could accelerate any decline well beyond the initial breakdown.

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HYPE Liquidation Heatmap.
HYPE Liquidation Heatmap. Source: Coinglass

The heatmap shows relatively thin liquidation stacking between $38 and $35, suggesting the price could slice through that range with limited friction. The absence of significant long-side leverage above $39 further limits the likelihood of a demand-driven reversal before the $35.03 test arrives.

Selling Pressure Set Dominates HYPE

The Klinger Oscillator (KVO) is currently reading 8.09K on the daily chart, sitting just above the zero line with a clear downward trajectory. The signal line (green) has already turned lower, and the KVO (blue) is converging toward a bearish crossover. 

The Klinger Oscillator measures the difference between two volume-weighted EMAs of price to gauge whether money is flowing into or out of an asset. When it rises above zero, buying pressure dominates; when it falls below zero, selling pressure takes control.

The indicator peaked near 25K in early March, coinciding with HYPE’s rally to $43.76. Since then, momentum has declined in three successive lower highs, a pattern of deteriorating buying pressure that mirrors the price action. 

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HYPE KVO.
HYPE KVO. Source: TradingView

A confirmed cross below zero on the KVO would shift volume-weighted momentum from bullish to bearish. Historically, on the HYPE daily chart, both prior KVO zero-line breaks preceded drawdowns. 

The 0.382 Fibonacci retracement level sits at $36.83, offering the first meaningful demand zone before price reaches the $35.03 liquidation cluster. Should the KVO break below zero while the price is below $36.83, the path to $32.33 — the 0.618 Fibonacci level — becomes the primary scenario.

HYPE Price Levels To Watch

The daily chart shows HYPE has completed a double top breakdown, now underway. Price is currently sitting at $38.27, hovering around the support at the same level. 

The pattern’s full downside projection is calculated from the breakdown point at the $35.03 neckline. This points HYPE to $21.64 on a confirmed breakdown, matching the 37.49% decline annotated on the chart.

HYPE Price Analysis.
HYPE Price Analysis. Source: TradingView

Holding $35.03 is therefore non-negotiable for bulls. Only a daily close below it would confirm the double top and open the door to $32.33 first, then $28.69. 

For the bearish thesis to be invalidated, HYPE would need to reclaim $38.80 and then push through $42.67 with conviction. A break above $42.67 would negate the double top structure entirely, shifting the bias back toward the $47.15 resistance.

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Bitget’s Gracy Chen says $1t US stock wipeout is speeding up macro reset

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Bitget’s Gracy Chen says $1t US stock wipeout is speeding up macro reset

Bitget CEO Gracy Chen says a $1t single‑day US stock wipeout is accelerating a global macro risk reset, while lower leverage helps Bitcoin act more like a neutral portfolio allocation than a pure risk punt.

Summary

  • Over $1 trillion was wiped from US stocks in a single day as risk assets sold off.
  • Bitget CEO Gracy Chen says the slide has accelerated a global “reassessment of macro risks.”
  • Bitcoin’s smaller drawdown and lower leverage hint at growing status as a neutral allocation.

In the wake of a sharp US equity selloff that erased more than $1 trillion in market value in a single session, Bitget CEO Gracy Chen says the rout is forcing investors to reprice macro risk at a much faster clip while Bitcoin (BTC) is starting to behave more like a neutral, portfolio-level allocation than a pure risk-on punt. According to ChainCatcher, the CEO’s remarks are the latest on top of a broader drawdown that has already knocked trillions off US benchmarks since President Donald Trump’s second-term tariff agenda reignited inflation fears and hit tech-heavy names. As of Friday morning, Bitcoin was trading around $66,500, down roughly 4% on the day but still outpacing major stock indices on a relative basis.

Gracy Chen: $1t US stock selloff shows Bitcoin becoming neutral allocation

Chen argued that the current move is less about idiosyncratic crypto stress and more about global portfolios digesting a new regime of higher energy prices, stickier inflation, and geopolitical conflict spilling over into capital allocation decisions. “This round of adjustment reflects that global markets are reassessing macro risks at a faster pace,” she said, adding that as oil spikes again, “the impact of geopolitical changes is no longer limited to the energy market but is beginning to more directly affect global capital allocation.” The comment comes as strategists at Bloomberg and elsewhere flag how renewed tariff salvos and conflict risk have turned the post-2024 equity boom into what one Bloomberg analysis called a “$1 trillion wreckage,” even as Bitcoin’s institutional scaffolding has largely held.

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Despite warning that Bitcoin will “still maintain high volatility in the short term,” Chen highlighted that the asset’s behavior this week has been “relatively robust” compared with previous episodes when risk appetite collapsed. She pointed to a sharp reduction in derivatives leverage as a key reason: “The overall leverage in the crypto market has significantly decreased, thereby limiting the scale of forced liquidations that typically amplify downward pressure during market stress.” That fits with recent flows data showing Bitcoin spot ETFs have seen bouts of outflows but not the kind of capitulation that marked prior crashes, while Bitget’s own protection and risk systems have been tightened as volatility climbed.

For Chen, the resilience is sending a signal about how Bitcoin is being used. “In an increasingly fragmented macro environment, Bitcoin is starting to be viewed by some portfolios as a more neutral allocation choice,” she said. That echoes her earlier comments that recent drawdowns are “tightly linked to the macro cycle,” with investors rotating between crypto, equities, and gold as they navigate Trump’s tariff-led policy shock and rising odds of a US recession. According to a recent crypto.news story, US markets have wiped out $9.6 trillion in value since Trump’s second inauguration, even as Bitcoin has repeatedly bounced after single-day drops of 1%–5%, underlining its evolving role in a world where macro risk is now the dominant driver of asset prices.

In earlier coverage, crypto.news detailed how a previous wave of selling erased $1.1 trillion from digital assets in just 41 days as leverage cascades intensified the downside, a backdrop that makes today’s more orderly drawdown stand out. Another recent story examined how the same tariff and inflation shock that hit tech stocks has rippled through crypto, while a separate report tracked how Bitcoin’s price has stayed comparatively resilient even as US equity indices flirt with bear-market territory. For live market data on Bitcoin, readers can follow its price page on crypto.news, alongside dedicated pages for other major assets involved in these rotations, including Ethereum, XRP, Solana, and Dogecoin.

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California Governor Newsom Signs Prediction Market Insider Trading Order

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California, US Government, United States, Prediction Markets

California Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on Friday, expanding rules to curb public servants and those close to them from benefiting from insider trading on prediction markets tied to political or economic events they can influence or are privy to.

The order prohibits “gubernatorial appointees,” public officials appointed to office by the governor of the state, from using “confidential or non-public information” gleaned from performing their duties to profit from related prediction markets.

Newsom’s executive order also extends the prohibition to include spouses, family members or former business partners of the appointed officials from using non-public information to profit. “Public service should not be a get-rich-quick scheme,” Newsom said. He added:

“At a time when Trump’s Washington is riddled with ethical failures and insider profiteering, California is drawing a bright line: If you serve the public as a political appointee, you serve the public — period. We’re not going to tolerate this kind of corruption in California.”

California, US Government, United States, Prediction Markets
Governor Newsom’s executive order on government insiders using non-public information to profit from prediction markets. Source: California Governor

An announcement from Newsom’s office listed several instances of political insiders using non-public information to profit from prediction markets, including six suspected political insiders who profited from US strikes on Iran.

Newsom’s office also cited another case of suspected insider trading, which occurred in January, after one Polymarket trader netted $410,000 betting that the US would arrest former Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro hours before his capture.

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Prediction markets have come under scrutiny from US lawmakers, who argue that political insiders are using the platforms to unfairly benefit from their positions and are potentially threatening national security by wagering on sensitive events like war and elections.

Related: Detroit set to enter Michigan‘s battle against Coinbase prediction markets

US lawmakers accelerate prediction market crackdown after insider allegations surface

Texas Congressman Greg Casar and Connecticut Senator Chris Murphy introduced the “Banning Event Trading on Sensitive Operations and ​Federal Functions (BETS OFF) Act” in March 2026 in response to the prediction market insider trading allegations.

The bill seeks to prohibit government insiders from using prediction platforms to profit from markets tied to war or death. 

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California, US Government, United States, Prediction Markets
Congressman Greg Casar announces the “Bets Off Act.” Source: Congressman Greg Casar

US Representative Adrian Smith and Representative Nikki Budzinski also introduced similar legislation in March, titled the “Preventing Real-time Exploitation and Deceptive Insider Congressional Trading (PREDICT) Act.”

The legislative proposal prohibits the US President, lawmakers and other high-ranking government officials from betting on prediction markets.

Magazine: Train AI agents to make better predictions… for token rewards