Crypto World
Why digital payments need a better infrastructure
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
Crypto payment gateways gain traction as blockchain reshapes everyday transactions.
Summary
- Crypto POS gateways gain traction as stablecoins reshape payments, with Polygon aiming to close usability gaps.
- Stablecoins boost cross-border payments and speed, but challenges remain as Polygon works on seamless adoption.
- Crypto payments evolve beyond investment use, with Polygon set to enhance stablecoin usability in e-commerce.
The ability to perform online payments is often taken for granted, as fiat-based methods have essentially become a part of daily life. However, cryptocurrency point-of-sale gateways are once again beginning to transform the entire ecosystem. Offering a host of user-friendly features in tandem with elements unique to the blockchain, many analysts hail crypto-friendly platforms as the wave of the future.
However, even stablecoins can suffer from a handful of drawbacks. This is why additional changes must be made to further streamline the process if we hope to provide consumers, and e-commerce platforms alike, with the solutions they have been searching for. Let’s see how Polygon will soon be able to bridge this gap so that we can better appreciate what the not-so-distant future has in store.
The stablecoin revolution
It is impossible to deny the positive impacts that stablecoins have had upon the online payment community. While it can be argued that anonymity is one of their most important selling points, other blockchain-native benefits exist. For instance, cross-border payments have become a reality (a crucial selling point for e-commerce hubs hoping to cater to an international marketplace). Consumers can likewise leverage the anonymous nature of stablecoins. When combined with faster processing times and tokens that can sometimes act as hedges against inflation, it becomes clear to see why cryptocurrencies represent far more than one-off investment opportunities.
Good, but far from perfect
The only issue is that cryptocurrencies can still suffer from a handful of possible drawbacks. One major pitfall involves a somewhat fragmented presence across the global marketplace. In other words, the availability of stablecoins can often vary from region to region. Other possible pain points include:
- Occasionally slow settlement times
- High transaction fees
- Difficulty upgrading point-of-sale infrastructure (a particular concern for online merchants)
- Challenges when performing token swaps
- On- and off-ramping friction
Not only might these elements detract from the public appeal of stablecoin transactions, but they can present additional hurdles that e-commerce providers will need to overcome. The good news is that things are soon about to change thanks to a novel initiative by Polygon.
The Polygon Open Money Stack
Perhaps the best way to describe the Open Money Stack is to refer to a quote from Polygon founder and CEO Sandeep Nailwal:
“Open, seamless, and interoperable.”
Open Money Stack promises to address many of the same issues highlighted in the previous section of this article. So, what does this system have in store? Why should it be able to provide relief to consumers, and businesses alike?
Vertical integration
Open Money Stack can be seamlessly integrated into existing POS architecture; taking much of the guesswork out of implementation. Furthermore, this system is modular by design. Vendors can select which features are required while still being able to connect with other networks.
Reducing the need for multiple service providers
This is yet another pitfall that some stablecoins have yet to overcome. The problem with multiple service providers is that relying on numerous nodes can lead to sluggish processing times; a real issue for vendors hoping to provide lightning-fast payment solutions. Increased fees could also be present; resulting in most costly end-user transactions, or forcing the seller to absorb the associated costs. The one-size-fits-all design of Open Money Stack addresses these drawbacks.
Keeping conversion woes at bay
Fiat/crypto exchanges are a regular occurrence throughout the e-commerce community, and the processes are sometimes convoluted. On- and off-ramping can be sluggish, costly, and dependent on existing infrastructure. Polygon’s Open Money Stack aims to provide an efficient solution thanks to its cross-chain interoperability. This will help to reduce friction, to simplify how consumers interact with the systems, and ultimately, to lower cart abandonment rates.
A coming paradigm shift
The Polygon Open Money Stack seeks to provide even more targeted solutions to consumers and e-commerce vendors. Even though core aspects of the stack are already live (like its enterprise grade wallet suite and the Polygon Chain), the rest is expected to go live later in 2026; already, this system has begun to make headlines across the cryptocurrency community. Analysts feel that Open Money Stack could very well usher in an entirely new era of digital payments; great news for buyers and sellers alike.
Disclosure: This content is provided by a third party. Neither crypto.news nor the author of this article endorses any product mentioned on this page. Users should conduct their own research before taking any action related to the company.
At least 12 DeFi protocols and crypto businesses have been attacked in just over two weeks since the $280 million Drift Protocol exploit on April 1.
Attacks aimed at crypto protocols or companies since the start of April include CoW Swap, Hyperbridge, Bybit, Dango, Silo Finance, BSC TMM, Aethir, MONA, Zerion and, most recently, Rhea Finance and the Grinex exchange.
The Drift Protocol was hit with one of the largest exploits this year on April 1, losing around $280 million in a long-running social engineering attack suspected to involve North Korean-affiliated actors.
The attacks also come amid growing concerns this month that advancing AI models, such as Anthropic’s Claude Mythos and equivalent models, could eventually make it even easier for cyberattackers in the future.
Rhea Finance exploited for $7.6 million
DeFi protocol Rhea Finance reported on Thursday that an attacker “leveraged a vulnerability in Rhea’s Margin Trading feature to execute a coordinated pool manipulation attack,” impacting the Rhea Lend smart contract.
Around $7.6 million was extracted, according to blockchain security firm CertiK.
“The attacker created fake token contracts and added liquidity in fresh pools, likely misleading the oracle and validation layer,” it explained.
Meanwhile, the Russia-linked Grinex exchange suspended operations after a $13.7 million hack on Thursday, blaming “unfriendly states” for the incursion.
Related: Stablecoin issuer Circle faces lawsuit over $280M Drift Protocol hack
Another attack this month was aimed at the Binance Smart Chain TMM/USDT liquidity pool, which suffered a reserve manipulation attack, resulting in the loss of around $1.67 million in early April, R3ACH Network analyst Jussy said on Thursday.
It followed just days after bridge aggregator Dango lost $410,000 from a smart contract bug on April 13.
In the same month, lending protocol Silo Finance lost $392,000 on April 3 from a misconfigured oracle exploit and decentralized GPU cloud computing platform Aethir lost $423,000 in an access control exploit on April 9.
DPRK ups AI social engineering attacks
The Drift Protocol and Zerion wallet exploits were two examples of Democratic People’s Republic of Korea-affiliated groups using AI and social engineering to infiltrate crypto companies to steal credentials and funds.
Malicious actors pilfered over $168.6 million in cryptocurrency from 34 DeFi protocols in the first quarter of 2026, according to data from DefiLlama.
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South Korea is moving toward a more transparent public ledger by testing tokenized deposits for day-to-day government spending in a new regulatory sandbox trial.
Summary
- South Korea will launch a blockchain-based pilot in Sejong City to handle daily government operational spending through tokenized deposits.
- The Ministry of Economy and Finance plans to replace traditional government credit cards with programmable digital payments that feature predefined limits on timing and usage categories.
- The initiative targets a full rollout by the final quarter of 2026 and forms part of a strategy to digitize one-quarter of all treasury fund executions by 2030.
According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MOEF), the government has selected a pilot project that uses blockchain-based deposits to handle operational expenses, with a full rollout scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2026.
This initiative will initially launch in Sejong City, replacing the current system where officials use government-issued credit and debit cards for official business.
Unlike traditional payments that rely on post-use reporting to catch errors, this digital framework allows authorities to pre-set spending conditions, such as specific time windows and permitted categories, to ensure funds are used exactly as intended.
These tokenized deposits act as digital versions of standard bank deposits held on a distributed ledger. Because they remain liabilities of participating commercial banks and operate within existing financial systems, they offer more stability than private stablecoins.
The MOEF confirmed that nine major banks—including KB Kookmin, Shinhan, Woori, and Hana—are participating in the experiment to issue and manage these tokens. This infrastructure effectively links the government’s Digital Budget and Accounting System (dBrain) with the blockchain, creating a traceable path for every won spent.
By moving beyond one-off subsidies and into recurring operational costs, the ministry expects to see a significant reduction in the misuse of public funds and a decrease in settlement times.
The sandbox environment provides a legal carve-out for this trial, as current regulations typically mandate that such expenses be processed through specific physical cards.
Moving to a programmable system allows for a level of oversight that traditional banking cannot match, potentially lowering transaction fees for small businesses receiving government payments by removing traditional card network intermediaries.
“The trial will serve as a basis for evaluating new payment and settlement methods, with potential implications for fiscal operations if the model proves viable,” the ministry stated.
Integrating distributed ledger technology (DLT) aligns with a long-term strategy to digitize South Korea’s treasury. The MOEF previously disclosed a target to convert 25% of all treasury fund executions to digital currency by 2030.
Success in Sejong City will likely lead to legislative updates intended to scale this model across all branches of the national government.
The initiative builds on a previous project launched in March involving the Environment Ministry and the Bank of Korea, which utilized tokenized deposits to manage 30 billion won in subsidies for electric vehicle charging stations.
A Texas man received a 23-year federal prison sentence for running a crypto scam. The fraud drained nearly 1,000 investors of more than $20 million through a sham asset-backed token.
Robert Dunlap, 55, of Houston, sold a digital asset called Meta-1 Coin from 2018 to 2023. Federal prosecutors in the Northern District of Illinois led the case.
How the Meta-1 Coin Crypto Scam worked
According to the press release, Dunlap built his pitch around fabricated reserves. He told investors that Meta-1 Coin was backed by up to $1 billion in art. The collection supposedly included works attributed to Pablo Picasso, Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh, and others.
He also claimed roughly $44 billion in gold stood behind the token. An accounting firm had audited and certified the bullion, Dunlap falsely told buyers.
“Defendant lied to investors for years telling them that he had created a safe investment for them. Over the years, defendant was unrepentant and his lies became bigger. Would-be criminals planning to engage in similar conduct need to know that such actions will be met with a serious repercussion that includes loss of one’s liberty for an extended period of time,” Assistant US Attorneys Jared Hasten and Paige Nutini argued in the government’s sentencing memorandum.
A federal jury convicted Dunlap on two counts of mail fraud in November 2025. US District Judge LaShonda A. Hunt handed down the 23-year sentence this week. She also ordered restitution for fraud victims, many of whom reported losing their life savings.
US Attorney Andrew S. Boutros and special agents from the FBI’s Chicago Field Office and IRS Criminal Investigation (IRS-CI) announced the sentence. They received assistance from the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.
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The post Houston Man Sentenced to 23 Years Over Fake Gold- and Art-Backed Crypto Scheme appeared first on BeInCrypto.
The Ketman Project, funded by an Ethereum Foundation stipend, identified 100 North Korean IT workers and alerted about 53 projects employing DPRK operatives.
The Ethereum Foundation said it funded a six-month project that exposed 100 North Korean operatives who had infiltrated Web3 companies under fake identities.
The foundation on Thursday shared a recap of its ETH Rangers program, which was launched in late 2024 to provide “stipends for individuals doing public goods security work” within the ecosystem.
One of the recipients used the capital to build the Ketman Project to focus on investigating “fake developers” embedded within crypto, particularly operatives from the People’s Republic of Korea.
During the six-month stipend period, the Ketman Project identified “100 different DPRK IT workers operating within Web3 organizations” and reached out to about 53 projects to alert them about having potentially employed active DPRK operatives.
“This work directly addresses one of the most pressing operational security threats facing the Ethereum ecosystem today,” the Ethereum Foundation said.
North Korean operatives have been plaguing the crypto sector, leading to billions worth of crypto stolen over the years. One of the highest-profile hacking groups from North Korea is known as the Lazarus Group.
The Ethereum Foundation did not go into detail about how the Ketman Project was able to identify the DPRK operatives. However, the project’s website has an extensive range of articles explaining the types of “tactics, behaviors and operational patterns” the operatives deploy.
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They include technical red flags such as reusing avatars and profile metadata across multiple GitHub accounts, exposing unlinked email addresses during accidental screen sharing, and displaying default language settings, such as Russian, that contradict their claimed nationality.
Alongside identifying North Korean operatives, the Ketman Project also developed an open-source detection tool to identify suspicious GitHub activity and co-authored an industry-standard framework for identifying DPRK IT workers in partnership with blockchain-focused nonprofit organization the Security Alliance.
Magazine: Nobody knows if quantum secure cryptography will even work
XRP price rose 6% to a three-week high of $1.42 on Thursday, becoming the strongest gainer among the top 10 cryptocurrencies by market cap.
Summary
- XRP price rose to $1.42 as easing macro tensions lifted sentiment, with the token emerging as the top gainer among major cryptocurrencies.
- Regulatory clarity via the CLARITY Act and $38.8M in ETF inflows signal growing institutional confidence.
- Expanding utility through Ripple’s RWA push and partnerships could support a move toward the $1.60 level.
According to data from crypto.news, XRP (XRP) price rallied to $1.42 on Thursday, April 16, with its market cap moving back above $87 billion and reclaiming the spot of being the 4th largest crypto asset in the market. The token still lies nearly 23% lower than where it began this year.
While hopes of de-escalation in the U.S. and Iran war have lifted the market sentiment, triggering a bounce across most crypto assets, XRP price could specifically benefit from three catalysts over the coming sessions.
First, the most significant hurdle for XRP has been regulatory ambiguity over its security status, a long-standing challenge that the CLARITY Act could solve. As such, the U.S. Senate Banking Committee is scheduled to mark up the bill for later this month.
The bill is important as if it clears this committee, it would formally codify XRP as a digital commodity, moving it from permitted existence to protected legality. This would effectively remove the remaining litigation discount and provide a clear legal green light for major institutions to deploy capital.
Second, XRP price stands to benefit from renewed institutional demand for the token while retail investors remain cautious.
Data from SoSoValue show that spot XRP ETFs have recorded their fourth consecutive day of inflows for the first time since March, drawing in a combined $38.86 million within the period. This brings the combined assets under management for U.S. spot XRP ETFs to over $1.25 billion.
Such steady accumulation from smart money often precedes a sharp move upwards when it absorbs the remaining supply of tokens held in exchanges, currently at multi-year lows.
Third, the token could also gain from increased network utility. Notably, Ripple is growing its presence in the RWA industry by integrating the RLUSD stablecoin and Zero Knowledge proofs into the XRP Ledger.
On April 14, Ripple announced a partnership with Kyobo Life, one of South Korea’s largest insurers, to pilot tokenized government bond settlements. The deal, along with the launch of an Institutional DeFi Portal in beta, now allows banks to settle large transactions privately and instantly on the ledger, providing a massive boost to the long-term value proposition of the ecosystem.
On the daily chart, XRP price has broken out from the upper side of a symmetrical triangle pattern. Typically, a breakout from the upper side of the pattern means that the period of consolidation has ended and a new bullish trend is beginning.
The MACD lines have pointed upwards, a sign that buyers are gaining strength and momentum is shifting in favor of the bulls.
On the contrary, the SuperTrend indicator has flashed red, which means the market could see some minor resistance or short-term pullbacks before its next leg up. This suggests that while the long-term outlook is positive, traders should prepare for some volatility in the coming days.
Hence, XRP price could continue its rally to potentially retest or reclaim its March 17 high of $1.60. On the contrary, if the price drops back below $1.40, it could indicate a false breakout and lead to a retest of lower support levels near $1.30.
Disclosure: This article does not represent investment advice. The content and materials featured on this page are for educational purposes only.
TLDR:
- Grinex halted operations after a cyberattack drained over $13M in user crypto wallets.
- Elliptic traced rapid USDT transfers across TRON and Ethereum networks post-breach activity.
- The exchange is linked to Garantex, previously sanctioned for illicit crypto transaction flows.
- On-chain data shows $15M in suspicious transfers executed shortly after the hack incident.
Grinex suspended operations after a large-scale cyberattack drained more than 1 billion rubles, or roughly $13.1 million, from user wallets. The exchange linked the incident to what it described as a coordinated intrusion targeting its infrastructure.
Grinex also pointed to foreign intelligence services as the source of the attack. Data from Elliptic shows funds quickly moved across multiple blockchain networks after the breach.
Grinex Crypto Exchange Hack Triggers Sudden Shutdown and Fund Losses
Grinex halted all operations immediately after confirming the cyberattack and associated wallet drains. The exchange reported losses exceeding 1 billion rubles in user digital assets.
Although registered in Kyrgyzstan, Grinex maintained strong operational ties to Russia. It processed more than $6 billion in crypto transactions tied to ruble conversion flows.
Elliptic analysis indicated that compromised accounts executed outgoing USDT transfers worth approximately $15 million. These transactions occurred within hours of the initial breach.
On-chain movement shows attackers routed funds through TRON and Ethereum networks. The stolen USDT was converted into TRX or ETH to reduce freezing risk.
On-Chain Tracking of Grinex Crypto Exchange Hack Funds
Blockchain tracking from Elliptic shows rapid redistribution of stolen assets across multiple wallets. Analysts observed structured transfers designed to obscure origin points.
Grinex previously functioned as a successor to Garantex, a sanctioned exchange linked to illicit crypto flows. The platform also handled activity involving the A7A5 ruble-backed stablecoin.
Garantex had earlier faced sanctions from the U.S. Treasury’s OFAC office for alleged laundering tied to ransomware and darknet markets. Authorities previously froze tens of millions in stablecoins connected to its wallets.
The latest breach adds pressure on exchanges tied to sanctions-sensitive corridors, especially those relying on stablecoin liquidity for cross-border transfers.
President Donald Trump said Thursday that a US-Iran deal is “looking very good,” with negotiations between Washington and Tehran set to resume this weekend ahead of the current ceasefire’s expiration.
The remarks came as oil prices slipped, US equities pushed to record territory, and crypto markets posted modest gains on renewed diplomatic optimism.
US Iran Ceasefire Talks Gain Momentum
Vice President JD Vance led last weekend’s negotiations with Iranian officials in Islamabad, though those discussions ended without a formal agreement. Meanwhile, a recent ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon has added to the sense of progress, though concerns remain.
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Abas Aslani, a senior research fellow at the Center for Middle East Strategic Studies in Tehran, called the Lebanon truce a “promising” signal that a broader deal may be within reach.
“Iran has been seriously insisting on its core demand that a ceasefire needs to be inclusive, not just limited to Iran but other parts of the region, including Lebanon,” he told Al Jazeera.
However, Gulf Arab and European leaders believe a final deal could take roughly six months to negotiate, as per Bloomberg. Those officials are pushing to extend the ceasefire to cover that timeline.
They also want the Strait of Hormuz reopened immediately to restore energy flows. They are warning privately that a global food crisis could develop if the waterway remains blocked through next month.
Markets Respond With Cautious Optimism
Despite the uncertainty, experts suggest that extreme-scenario risks have eased. The markets reflect this. Oil and fuel prices declined across the board on Friday.
WTI crude fell 1.51% to $93.26, while Brent dropped 1.12% to $98.28. Gasoline eased 0.17% to $3.16, and heating oil slipped 0.43% to $3.82.
US equities opened higher, extending a rally that pushed the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to new all-time highs this week. The former index rose roughly 0.26%, while the Nasdaq gained 0.36%. The Dow Jones added 0.25%.
Crypto markets also moved higher, gaining nearly 1% over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin (BTC) held near $74,650 as large-cap digital assets posted modest gains in the same timeframe.
Now, the upcoming weekend’s talks and ceasefire deadline will test whether both sides can maintain momentum toward a lasting resolution.
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The post President Trump Signals US-Iran Deal Progress as Oil Drops and Crypto Markets Rise appeared first on BeInCrypto.
Orbs is handing control of its Layer-3 trading protocol and multi-million dollar fee stream to a new DAO, betting seasonal on-chain governance can keep pace with volatile DeFi markets.
Summary
- Orbs will roll out a DAO that hands protocol governance and revenue allocation to its community.
- The Layer-3 trading network has processed more than $3 billion in volume and over $3 million in protocol revenue.
- Seasonal on-chain governance will set tokenomics, fee distribution, and network priorities.
Orbs has launched a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) that will shift control over protocol decisions and revenue allocation from core contributors to its global community in the coming weeks, formalizing a move to fully on-chain governance for its Layer-3 trading infrastructure.
The Tel Aviv-based protocol, which specializes in execution-layer infrastructure for advanced onchain trading, said the DAO launch follows years of product deployment, integrations, and regulatory preparation rather than a rush to decentralize.
Orbs’ suite of live Layer-3 protocols — including dLIMIT, dTWAP, Liquidity Hub, Perpetual Hub and dSLTP — has processed more than $3 billion in cumulative trading volume and generated over $3 million in protocol revenue to date, across more than 30 decentralized exchange integrations on multiple chains and backed by over 1 billion staked ORBS tokens.
“Governance only works when there is something real to govern,” said Ran Hammer, Chief Business Officer at Orbs, arguing that the DAO is launching only once the protocol has meaningful products, revenue, and adoption.
“After years of building products, generating revenue, and scaling adoption, we are now in a position where the community can actively shape the protocol’s future with real data and real impact,” Hammer added.
The new DAO will control key levers of the protocol, including how fees generated by Orbs’ trading products are allocated, token economic parameters, network upgrades, validator oversight and ecosystem grants, placing revenue and resource allocation in the hands of token holders rather than a centralized team.
A defining feature is its seasonal governance model, where decisions are made in defined cycles so the community can revisit priorities, adjust tokenomics, and reallocate resources as market conditions evolve, in contrast to static governance frameworks adopted by some earlier DeFi protocols.
The rollout will open with two initial on-chain votes: one to ratify the DAO’s core structure, voting mechanisms and operational framework, and a second to define “Season 1” tokenomics, including how protocol revenue is split between token burns, staking incentives, liquidity provisioning and treasury reserves.
Orbs said the DAO extends its existing governance architecture of Guardians and Delegators, which currently secure the network through Proof-of-Stake and participate in decision-making, into a broader, protocol-level model for capital allocation and long-term strategy.
The move comes as more decentralized finance projects turn on revenue governance, with protocols such as Uniswap and others activating or expanding fee switches and treasury control as DeFi matures into a cash-flow generating sector scrutinized by institutional and retail investors alike.
Within this context, Orbs positions its DAO as a way to align a revenue-producing Layer-3 infrastructure network with its token holders at a time when advanced execution tools and real economic flows — not just speculative governance tokens — increasingly define competitive advantage in onchain markets.
Crypto World
The U.S. government moves $606,000 in bitcoin linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack to Coinbase
The U.S. government is active on the blockchain again, moving approximately $606,000 worth of bitcoin to Coinbase Prime.
These are not just any coins. On-chain data suggests the transferred 8 BTC are linked to Ilya Lichtenstein, the man behind the decade-old hack of the OG exchange Bitfinex, according to data tracked by Arkham.
Transfers to exchanges are often interpreted as a sign of potential selling pressure. However, that is not always the case and could also reflect routine wallet movements, custody changes, or other non-selling activity.
These coins have destination
The bitcoin tied to the Bitfinex hack, which saw Lichtenstein walk away with 119,756 BTC, has a court-mandated destination and it’s not U.S. Treasury.
In early 2025, federal proceedings solidified the in-kind restitution of the seized assets to Bitfinex, requiring the government to return the coins rather than liquidate them independently.
Bitfinex intends to use the returned funds to fully redeem all outstanding Recovery Right Tokens – digital claims issued to customers who suffered losses in the hack – and to allocate at least 80% of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase and burn its UNUS SED LEO token.
The 2016 hack
In August 2016, Lichtenstein hacked into Bitfinex and fraudulently authorized more than 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,756 BTC to a wallet under his control. At that time, the exploit was worth roughly $72 million. (As of today, it would be worth $8.9 billion)
What followed were years of sophisticated money laundering via crypto mixers, darknets, and chain-hopping between coins, as well as the purchase of gold.
Finally, in 2022, investigators caught up and seized a portion of the stolen BTC, then worth $3.6 billion. In 2024, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison and was released in January 2026 under the First Step Act, thanking President Donald Trump on X.
The stolen coins, however, remained in government custody. The U.S. said last year that its holdings of seized BTC would form part of a national strategic bitcoin reserve. As of writing, the government holds bitcoin valued at about $24.54 billion, ether at roughly $146 million, and several other cryptocurrencies.
TLDR:
- Bitcoin correlation with Nasdaq has dropped to -0.20, marking a rare decoupling phase in 2026
- Correlation ranged 0.40–0.70 in 2021-2022, then peaked 0.85 during late 2022 volatility periods
- Van de Poppe notes Bitcoin averages +45% in 3 months and +370% in 12 months post-correction
- BTC trades near $74.8K with $42B volume, showing mixed momentum but steady participation levels
Bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq has shifted sharply into negative territory, according to recent market commentary from Michaël van de Poppe.
The change marks one of the weakest alignment phases between the two assets in a decade-long dataset. Historical readings show a transition from strong positive linkage to outright divergence in recent quarters.
Bitcoin now trades near $74,819 as equity relationships weaken and market structure adjusts.
Data shared by Michaël van de Poppe indicates the Bitcoin-Nasdaq correlation ranged between 0.40 and 0.70 during 2021 to 2022, climbed to 0.75 to 0.85 in late 2022, and has recently fallen to around -0.20 in late 2025 and early 2026.
This divergence has raised attention on whether equities will lead crypto markets or vice versa in the current cycle.
Bitcoin Correlation and Nasdaq Breakdown Across Equity Cycles
Market data shows a notable breakdown in the historical relationship between Bitcoin and the Nasdaq in recent months.
This divergence marks a shift from tightly coupled behavior seen in prior macro cycles. This shift follows years of evolving correlation structures between traditional and digital markets.
Between 2021 and 2022, both assets moved in stronger alignment, with correlation holding between 0.40 and 0.70.
Risk-on sentiment drove synchronized trading patterns across crypto and equities. Institutional inflows and macro liquidity conditions reinforced parallel movement during this period.
That alignment intensified in late 2022, when correlation readings climbed into the 0.75 to 0.85 range during high-volatility conditions.
Macro tightening conditions contributed to synchronized sell-offs across both markets. Both assets reacted similarly to aggressive rate expectations and liquidity tightening phases.
In 2025 and early 2026, the relationship weakened significantly, coinciding with the ETF era and shifting liquidity flows, pushing correlation to around -0.20.
Market participants now track whether this decoupling persists. ETF-related flows introduced new dynamics that altered traditional correlation behavior across cycles
Bitcoin Price Action and Post-Correction Market Signals
Bitcoin continues to trade near $74,819, reflecting a slight 24-hour decline and a nearly 4% weekly increase, according to CoinGecko.
Price action remains within a tight short-term consolidation range. Short-term volatility remains influenced by macroeconomic uncertainty and trading activity.
Daily trading volume remains above $42 billion, signaling sustained participation despite mixed short-term momentum. Liquidity conditions remain elevated across major exchanges. Exchange order books show steady depth despite intraday fluctuations.
Historical patterns highlighted by van de Poppe suggest Bitcoin has averaged a 45% gain within three months following sharp corrections.
These patterns reflect recurring post-drawdown recoveries. Besides, these trends often emerge after significant market dislocations in previous cycles.
Longer-term data indicates average returns of up to 370% within twelve months after similar market drawdowns, based on historical cycles. These figures derive from past volatility regimes.
However, outcomes vary depending on macro liquidity and investor positioning.
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