Asset manager Ark Invest says quantum computing is a long-term consideration for Bitcoin security but not an imminent threat.

In a Wednesday report co-authored with Unchained, the investment manager said today’s quantum computers are far below the capabilities needed to break Bitcoin’s cryptography, which relies on elliptic curve encryption to secure wallets.

“Today’s quantum systems lack the capabilities required to compromise Bitcoin,” wrote authors Dhruv Bansal, co-founder and CSO at Unchained; Tom Honzik, director of custody research at Unchained; and David Puell, research trading analyst and associate portfolio manager for digital assets at Ark Invest.

Even if quantum systems eventually reach that level, the risks will likely emerge gradually and at high cost to attackers, the report said.

One of the main reasons Bitcoin won’t face an immediate threat is because a major breakthrough in quantum computing would likely disrupt broader internet security first, prompting coordinated responses from governments, technology firms and financial institutions before reaching Bitcoin.

The report comes as long-term investors grapple with the possibility that advances in quantum computing could one day break the cryptography underpinning bitcoin, fueling speculation about a potential security crisis.

Earlier this year, a prominent portfolio strategist at Jefferies, Christopher Wood, said investors should drop 10% bitcoin allocation and add gold instead, due to a quantum threat. The move rattled investors and spooked the digital assets market.

35% of the supply in risk

While researchers broadly agree that such capabilities remain far off, the prospect that powerful quantum machines could eventually crack private keys or older wallet formats has raised concerns among investors about long-term risks to bitcoin and the broader digital asset ecosystem.

Ark’s report estimated that about 35% of bitcoin’s supply sits in address types theoretically exposed to future quantum attacks, including roughly 1.7 million BTC believed to be lost and about 5.2 million BTC that could be migrated to more secure wallets.

One of those wallets, roughly 1 million BTC, belongs to Satoshi Nakamoto, the creator of the Bitcoin network.

However, rather than a sudden “Q-day,” Ark Invest sees these progressions unfolding in several different stages over many years. Some investors fear the first attack could occur before 2030, while others suggest it could be “decades away,” the report noted.

The report argues that in either scenarios, it will likely give the Bitcoin community time to upgrade the network with quantum-resistant cryptography and encourage users to move coins to safer address formats.

“The good news is that we already know how to protect against quantum attacks,” the report said.

“The majority of Bitcoin’s supply is held in quantum-resistant addresses, and the remainder is held in quantum-vulnerable addresses that should not be at risk until Stage 3 of our timeline, when a CRQC exists that can break a 256-bit ECC key.”

The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading around $70,000 at the time of publication.

Read more: Grayscale sees regulation, not quantum fears, shaping crypto markets in 2026

JPMorgan Chase has been sued by investors in Goliath Ventures, with a proposed class action lawsuit alleging the bank ignored “red flags” that the allegedly fraudulent crypto pool raised and helped enable what the complaint describes as a $328 million crypto Ponzi scheme that affected over 2,000 people.

Filed in federal court in the Northern District of California Wednesday, the complaint claims Chase “provided the essential banking infrastructure through which the Ponzi scheme operated,” processing investor deposits, facilitating transfers and enabling payments that allegedly “created the false appearance of legitimate profits.”

Florida resident Christopher Alexander Delgado was arrested last month by federal authorities on wire fraud and money laundering charges tied to his operation of Goliath. That criminal case is in its early stages.

“Numerous red flags made the fraudulent nature of the scheme obvious and known to Chase,” Wednesday’s proposed class action claims. “Despite those red flags, Chase turned a blind eye and continued servicing the accounts used to perpetrate the fraud, earning substantial fees from the hundreds of millions of dollars it washed through Goliath and Delgado’s banking activities at Chase.”

A JPMorgan spokesperson toldCoinDesk that the bank would “decline to comment.”

The complaint, filed by Robby Alan Steele through his lawyers at Shaw Lewenz and co-counsel, states that JPMorgan was the sole banking institution for Goliath. It further states that approximately $253 million was deposited into a Chase account linked to Goliath between January 2023 and June 2025. Roughly $123 million was transferred from that account to crypto exchange Coinbase, while about $50 million was sent to investors as purported returns.

The lawsuit, which does not state a specific damages figure, repeatedly argued the bank should have spotted the alleged fraud from the flow of funds alone.

“From a bank’s perspective, the fraudulent scheme was obvious,” the complaint said. “A fraudulent scheme of this magnitude cannot be run surreptitiously through one bank.”

The suit also mentions JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon’s public criticism of cryptocurrencies, adding it contradicts the bank’s alleged conduct.

“Despite Dimon’s long history of criticizing cryptocurrency,” the complaint said, Chase “knowingly permitted a bank customer—Goliath—to commingle investors’ money at Chase” and use funds from later investors to pay earlier ones “in a classic Ponzi scheme fashion.”

As oil surges past $100 amid escalating Middle East tensions, the question for the Bitcoin network and miners is not whether their power bills will rise, but whether Bitcoin’s price will fall.

According to research from bitcoin mining software and services company Luxor’s Hashrate Index, the direct effect of oil price shocks on mining costs is likely to be limited, but the broader macroeconomic consequences could weigh more heavily on the industry.

However, the impact of oil prices surging isn’t zero on the Bitcoin network.

Luxor estimates that about 8 to 10 percent of global bitcoin hashrate operates in electricity markets where power prices are closely linked to crude oil. These operations are primarily concentrated in Gulf states such as the United Arab Emirates and Oman, with smaller contributions from Iran, Kuwait, Qatar and Libya.

“The genuinely oil-exposed countries” are the Gulf states, Luxor wrote in its research note, adding that the UAE and Oman together account for roughly about 6% of the network’s computing power or hashrate.

“These grids run primarily on natural gas derived from oil production, with electricity pricing that does track crude more directly than in the US or Russia,” the report said.

Meanwhile, Iran is estimated to hold another 0.8%, and other smaller contributors like Kuwait, Qatar, and Libya bring the total crude-sensitive hashrate exposure to roughly 8–10% of the network.

The remaining roughly 90% of the network runs in regions where electricity prices are driven by natural gas, coal, hydro or nuclear energy, meaning crude oil price swings have little direct influence on mining costs.

Impact on mining

What does this mean for bitcoin miners, who run power-hungry machines to secure the network and validate the transactions?

Luxor argues that even if oil prices remain above $100 per barrel, the effect on mining economics from higher electricity costs would likely be limited to a small portion of the network. Electricity is the single largest input cost for mining bitcoin.

Instead, the bigger risk for miners lies in how geopolitical shocks affect bitcoin’s price. According to Luxor, periods of macro stress often trigger risk-off behavior in financial markets, which can pressure volatile assets such as Bitcoin.

Recent data cited by the firm shows hashprice, a measure of profitability for the miners, fell to an all-time low of $27.89 per petahash per second per day in February, driven largely by a 23.8% drop in bitcoin’s price during the same period.

For miners, Luxor concludes, profitability is far more sensitive to changes in bitcoin’s price than to shifts in electricity costs.

Read more: Bitcoin hashrate drops 12% in worst drawdown since China mining ban: CryptoQuant

Against this backdrop, Bitcoin 2026 — now expected to surpass 40,000 attendees — is the definitive gathering for anyone serious about the future of money. With 500+ speakers, multiple world-class stages, and programming spanning Bitcoin fundamentals, enterprise adoption, mining, energy, AI, policy, and culture, the conference brings every corner of the Bitcoin ecosystem together under one roof. The BFC Symposium anchors the institutional conversation at the center of that ecosystem.

The development company behind Ethereum Layer 2 network Optimism has laid off 20 employees — what appears to be approximately 20% of its team. The news was announced by OP Labs CEO and Optimism co-founder Jing Wang in an X post today, March 12, and included a screenshot of an internal Slack message Wang had sent to staff earlier in the day.

“This decision reflects a narrowing of our focus, not our runway,” Wang wrote on X.

In a Slack message to what appears to be Op Labs’ 102 employees, Wang said that the decision is “not about finances” but rather about “doing fewer things well, making decisions faster, and reducing coordination overhead.”

Op Labs’ CEO also noted in the Slack messaged that OP Labs “is well capitalized with years of runway.”

The OP token fell slightly on the news, down 2.4% in the past 24 hours, per The Defiant’s price page, while the broader market is flat today.

Last month, Coinbase’s Base — which was reportedly contributing an estimated 97% of Superchain revenue — announced it was departing the OP Stack for a self-managed codebase, sending OP down 26% in a single day. Wang acknowledged the blow but said evolving the business model was overdue.

On the product side, Optimism launched OP Enterprise in January and also passed a governance vote to direct 50% of Superchain revenue toward OP token buybacks.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Safe-haven asset?

The action is volatile, but bitcoin BTC$70,371.61 for the moment is continuing to hold just above the $70,000 even as other risk assets sell off across the board.

Helping to send stocks lower, crude oil prices are up more than 10% and nearing $100 per barrel amid concerns about the Hormuz Strait — a key shipping route for oil tankers.

“Stopping Iran is of more concern to me than oil prices,” said President Trump on Thursday. Meanwhile, in his first public statement since being appointed Iran’s supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei said the Strait of Hormuz should remain closed.

“It’s becoming clear to everyone that the Strait is far from under control and potentially impossible to control without severe concessions to Iran, boots on the ground, or huge military risks,” said Quinn Thompson, founder of Lekker Capital. “Things get dicey from here and when backs are up against the wall, volatility increases.”

Nearing the noon hour on the east coast, the Nasdaq is near session lows, down 1.6% and S&P 500 is off 1.2%.

Wiped from the front pages thanks to Iran, but still of major concern are continuing worries about a collapse in private credit. Morgan Stanley (MS) was the latest in a growing series of financial giants to cap redemptions — this one at its $8 billion North Haven Private Income Fund. Shares of Morgan Stanley were down 4% on Thursday, leading declines in the financial sector. JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Wells Fargo were lower by closer to 3%.

In private equity, KKR, Apollo Global, and Ares Management were all sporting 3% to 4% declines.

Gold, meanwhile, was down 0.6% and the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was higher by three basis points to 4.23%.

Oil drives markets

Oil has become the main driver of crypto prices, according to CoinShares’ head of research, James Butterfill. “The dominant variable in global asset pricing is no longer the labour market. It is oil — and the geopolitical crisis underpinning it,” he said in a note. He argued that the government’s most recent U.S. payroll report, which missed expectations, would’ve normally pushed markets to price in faster rate cuts by the Federal Reserve, but the reaction was muted as investors instead focused on rising energy costs tied to the conflict in the Middle East.

Despite the pullback on Thursday, bitcoin has remained relatively resilient despite rising geopolitical tensions and broader market uncertainty, holding near the $70,000 level even as investors reassess global risks.

The reason could be that large investors are increasingly seeking more than simple exposure to bitcoin’s price, according to Dom Harz, co-founder of layer-2 blockchain BOB. “Institutions want more than exposure to bitcoin and are increasingly looking for the infrastructure designed to unlock Bitcoin’s financial utility,” he wrote in a note, pointing to growing interest in bitcoin-based financial applications that could allow users to spend, save and earn using the network.

• Ethereum price hovered just above $2,000 as whales moved ETH off exchanges.
• Large holder activity sees Ethereum exchange balances fall by over 74,000 ETH this week.
• Bulls could eye $2,188 and potentially $2,600 amid a technical breakout.

Ethereum’s price is holding near the $2,000 level, with bulls eyeing fresh moves above what many analysts see as a crucial psychological level.

The top altcoin traded within a tight range on Thursday, as Bitcoin showed resilience near $70,000.

However, ETH could test recent highs above the level, with whales signaling fresh confidence through notable exchange withdrawals.

ETH whales move coins off exchanges

Details shared by the smartmoney on-chain platform Lookonchain on March 12 indicate that Ethereum whale activity is picking up new momentum.

The Lookonchain X account spotlighted two of these large holder moves, with a newly created wallet address withdrawing 11,629 ETH worth about $23.7 million from Binance.

This transfer is critical as fresh wallets signal new entrants positioning for long-term appreciation.

Notably, Lookonchain also spotted a 63,324 ETH transfer by the whale address 0x8E34. According to the details, this bullish move, worth about $131.2 million, was from the crypto exchange Kraken.

Whales are buying $ETH!

Someone created a new wallet (0xfDe8) and has withdrawn 11,629 $ETH($23.71M) from #Binance in the past 2 days.

Earlier, we also reported that whale 0x8E34 withdrew 63,324 $ETH($131.2M) from #Kraken in the past 2 days.https://t.co/c0fmBE42N6… pic.twitter.com/ro8ikqlk4l

Advertisement

— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) March 12, 2026

What does this mean?

Whale activity had recently subsided as bears threatened to annihilate bulls amid the Iran war.

However, with analysts projecting a likely scenario where crypto rallies in the coming months, exchange outflows are on the rise again.

The two whales have, for instance, moved over 74,950 ETH worth roughly $155 million from centralised exchanges.

Such large-scale shifts can reduce sell-side pressure as fewer coins are available on CEXs compared to historical averages. This relates to an indicator called the scarcity index, which, as the data shows, has shifted positively.

The upbeat outlook for the altcoin comes as Ethereum spot exchange-traded funds recorded a second consecutive day of net inflows with over $57 million on March 11, 2026.

Net inflows increased from $12.6 million on Tuesday, ending a three-day outflow streak.

US spot ETH ETFs are also on track for another week of positive flows, with ETH price holding near the $2,000 level through this period.

Ethereum price analysis

Bulls have struggled since losing the $3,000 mark earlier in the year, and at current levels, hover about 30% down year-to-date.

Macro and geopolitical headwinds have largely allowed bears to dominate. If BTC sinks amid the Iran war sentiment, Ethereum would likely plummet alongside it.

Yet, despite overall sentiment, prices have held within the $1,800-$2,100 range in recent weeks, and $2,000 has emerged as a key short-term pivot mark.

ETH presents a bullish outlook amid its consolidation around this level, with on-chain metrics such as stablecoin inflows, ETFs, and declining exchange reserves pointing to a potential uptick.

Meanwhile, technical indicators such as the Relative Strength Index (RSI) and Moving Average Convergence Divergence strengthen this perspective.

The daily chart shows the RSI hovers near 50, neutral but trending upward. The MACD boasts a bullish outlook with the histogram bars green and expanding.

If prices climb to the channel resistance, bulls may test the 50-day moving average at $2,188. The 100-day moving average provides a dynamic supply wall just above $2,600.

However, the moving averages are trending lower. A close below $1,950 might allow for a bearish retest of $1,800 and potentially YTD lows of $1,740.

ETH changed hands at around $2,057 at the time of writing.

Lido, DeFi’s largest liquid staking protocol by total value locked, has launched EarnUSD, its first stablecoin vault, according to a press release shared with The Defiant.

The new product lets users deposit and earn yield on USDC and USDT. The vault allocates capital automatically across Ethereum-based USD-denominated strategies, including on-chain lending markets, real-world asset (RWA) integrations, and structured positions, per the release.

The move marks a broader focus for the protocol, which is known for being the largest ETH staking provider, with over 8.7 million ETH currently staked.

The launch restructures Lido Earn — which the firm says has attracted almost $250 million in deposits since launching in September 2025 — into two vaults: EarnETH and EarnUSD.

EarnETH, meanwhile, accepts ETH, WETH, and stETH, and distributes deposits across major DeFi protocols including Aave, Uniswap, and Morpho.

The launch of Lido’s stablecoin vault comes as stablecoin supply on Ethereum holds out over $160 billion, per data from DefiLlama. This represents over half over total USD stablecoin supply across all networks, currently at $314.9 billion.

Regulatory momentum — namely the GENIUS Act in the U.S.— has helped drive growth in the sector over the past year.

“Stablecoins are a fundamental part of DeFi, and until now we weren’t serving those users,” said Marin Tvrdić, Earn Partnerships at the Lido Ecosystem Foundation. “That changes today with EarnUSD.”

As part of the launch, the Lido DAO has voted to allocate $5 million from its treasury into the vaults alongside users, on the same terms. If a vault suffers losses, the DAO’s position absorbs them first, according to the release.

The move follows a DAO proposal from December that outlined a $60 million budget to expand Lido’s product offering beyond liquid staking, as reported by The Defiant.

Lido currently holds around $19 billion in TVL, according to DefiLlama, making it the largest liquid staking protocol in DeFi. The vast majority of its TVL is on Ethereum.

Lido’s TVL is down over 50% from its all-time high of over $42 billion reached last August amid ETH’s rally to a new all-time high, and increased regulatory clarity.

This article was written with the assistance of AI workflows. All our stories are curated, edited and fact-checked by a human.

Key Highlights

• On March 12, 2026, Eightco Holdings (ORBS) announced $125 million in fresh institutional funding commitments.
• Bitmine (BMNR) is leading the round with $75 million, while ARK Invest and Payward (Kraken’s parent company) each contributed $25 million.
• Chairman Dan Ives is departing the role; Tom Lee from Bitmine will join the company’s board of directors.
• Earlier in March, ORBS deployed $52.5 million into OpenAI equity and $25 million into MrBeast’s Beast Industries.
• Shares of ORBS climbed as high as 22% during Thursday’s trading session, reaching approximately 99 cents.

On March 12, 2026, Eightco Holdings (ORBS) revealed it had secured $125 million in new institutional capital, triggering a sharp rally in its share price during early market hours.

Eightco Holdings Inc., ORBS

The funding round features a substantial $75 million investment from Bitmine (BMNR), the digital asset firm led by cryptocurrency advocate Tom Lee. Additionally, ARK Invest—managed by renowned investor Cathie Wood—and Payward, which operates the Kraken cryptocurrency exchange, each pledged $25 million to the initiative.

During Thursday’s trading, ORBS shares climbed to 99 cents, marking an approximately 22% gain for the session. This represents a significant recovery for the company, whose stock had previously declined more than 90% over recent months.

The newly raised funds are designated for ORBS’ expansion efforts in artificial intelligence, blockchain technology infrastructure, and digital consumer-facing platforms.

Alongside the funding announcement, the company revealed a leadership transition. Dan Ives, the prominent technology analyst from Wedbush Securities who assumed the chairman role just last September, is relinquishing the position. Tom Lee will now occupy a board seat at ORBS.

Brett Winton, who serves as Chief Futurist at ARK Invest, has been appointed as an advisory board member.

In a public statement, Ives described the incoming leadership configuration as “the perfect team” to advance the company’s strategic objectives.

Last January, Barron’s featured a comprehensive cover investigation into Ives’s dual responsibilities and possible conflicts arising from his simultaneous roles as company chairman and equity analyst at Wedbush. When contacted Thursday, Wedbush representatives declined to provide commentary.

Strategic Capital Deployment in OpenAI and Beast Industries

Prior to Thursday’s funding announcement, ORBS had already begun deploying significant capital into strategic opportunities. On March 6, the firm invested approximately $52.5 million to obtain economic interests in OpenAI equity.

Four days later, on March 10, ORBS committed roughly $25 million to Beast Industries—the corporate entity backing internet personality MrBeast—with $7 million of that amount scheduled for funding within the next 60 days.

The company also maintains existing positions in Worldcoin, a project co-created by OpenAI’s CEO Sam Altman, as well as holdings in Ethereum.

According to company disclosures, the OpenAI and Beast Industries transactions represent ORBS’ “initial strategic investments,” indicating additional deals may be forthcoming.

Wall Street Perspective

The latest analyst assessment for ORBS stock stands at a Hold rating, accompanied by a price objective of $1.50.

Eightco currently operates with a market capitalization hovering around $160 million, while average daily trading volume reaches approximately 4.6 million shares.

Through its recent funding activities and investment deployments, the company has established simultaneous positions across OpenAI, Beast Industries, Worldcoin, and Ethereum—positioning itself at the intersection of artificial intelligence and blockchain technology.