Yes, you read the title right. The number of bullish bitcoin BTC$66,380.88 wagers, the so-called BTC/USD long positions, on the OG exchange Bitfinex has hit multi-month highs.

But, bulls, hold your cheers, as this metric has become a textbook “contrary indicator” over the years, with upswings characterizing bitcoin’s price downtrends.

Highest since 2023

The number of BTC/USD longs has increased to 79,343, the highest since November 2023, according to data source CoinDesk.

Rising bullish bets usually signal growing upside pressure – a positive read. But historically, the market has done the exact opposite, falling just as Mother Nature turns sunny forecasts into storms.

For instance, the number of BTC/USD longs rose 30% in the final quarter of 2025 as BTC’s spot price tanked 23% to $87,550. Similar patterns have been observed in recent years, as seen below.

BTC’s price bottoms when Bitfinex longs peak – and rallies as they decline. Price tops (like October) hit when longs bottom out, then prices slide as longs climb.

Analysts have previously explained this conundrum by saying the crowd is usually clueless, so bet against them.

So, the latest uptick in longs suggests that bitcoin’s choppy price action between $65,000 and $75,000 could soon end with a sell-off, deepening the downtrend that began above $100,000 last year. It goes without saying that past results are no guarantee of future results.

That said, other factors, such as reports that the U.S. is planning to deploy troops to the ongoing war in Iran, the oil price shock, and fears of a Fed rate hike, also favour the bearish case.

At press time, bitcoin traded around $66,400, according to CoinDesk data.

TLDR:

• Gnosis and Zisk launched the EEZ at EthCC Cannes, co-funded by the Ethereum Foundation in March 2026.
• The EEZ framework enables synchronous composability between Ethereum mainnet and connected L2 rollups.
• Zisk’s real-time ZKVM can prove Ethereum blocks instantly, making cross-rollup composability technically viable.
• Founding members include Aave, Titan, Beaver Build, Centrifuge, and xStocks under a Swiss non-profit structure.

Gnosis co-founder Friederike Ernst and Zisk founder Jordi Baylina unveiled the Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) at EthCC in Cannes on Sunday.

The initiative, co-funded by the Ethereum Foundation, introduces a rollup framework enabling synchronous composability between Ethereum’s mainnet and connected Layer 2 networks.

Founding members include Aave, block builders Titan and Beaver Build, real-world asset platform Centrifuge, and tokenized equities project xStocks.

EEZ Targets Ethereum’s Growing Fragmentation Problem

The Ethereum Economic Zone is built to solve a persistent issue in the ecosystem. Each new L2 chain that launches creates its own liquidity pool and bridge, effectively walling off users and assets. Ernst addressed this directly during the announcement in Cannes.

“Ethereum doesn’t have a scaling problem. It has a fragmentation problem,” Ernst said. “Every new L2 that launches with its own liquidity pool and its own bridge is another walled garden.”

The EEZ framework allows smart contracts on connected rollups to call contracts on mainnet. These calls carry the same guarantees as if they were deployed on Ethereum itself. ETH serves as the default gas token, and no additional bridging infrastructure is required.

As reported by The Block in 2024, a new Ethereum L2 was appearing roughly every 19 days. The Block’s 2026 L2 outlook further noted that most new chains became ghost towns after incentive cycles ended. Activity concentrated around a small number of ecosystems, while fragmentation deepened.

The EEZ enters a competitive field of interoperability efforts. Optimism’s Superchain, Polygon’s AggLayer, and the Ethereum Foundation’s own Interop Layer — unveiled in November 2025 — are all pursuing similar goals. The =nil; Foundation is also working on a zkSharding-based approach to chain coordination.

Real-Time ZK Proving Powers the Technical Case

What sets the EEZ apart, according to its founders, is real-time zero-knowledge proving. Baylina created the Circom programming language and co-founded Polygon zkEVM before spinning off his team into Zisk last June. His proving stack is the core enabling technology behind the framework.

Baylina made a direct case for the technology’s maturity during the EthCC presentation. “We spent two years building a ZKVM that can prove Ethereum blocks in real time,” he said.

“Synchronous composability between rollups isn’t theoretical anymore.” This positions the EEZ as technically distinct from competing interoperability proposals.

GnosisDAO governance records from February 2026 show the community had already been debating a six-month R&D collaboration with Baylina.

The goal was to explore converting Gnosis Chain into a natively integrated Ethereum L2. The EEZ appears to be the direct product of that process.

The Ethereum Foundation’s decision to co-fund the project is notable given its recent spending cuts. The Foundation paused its open grants program in mid-2025 and trimmed its burn rate to around 5% per year.

Co-executive directors Hsiao-Wei Wang and Tomasz K. Stańczak have named L2 interoperability as a priority, making the EEZ a natural fit. The project will be structured as a Swiss non-profit, with all software released as free and open-source.

Morgan Stanley just priced its upcoming spot Bitcoin ETF at a record-low 0.14%, undercutting both Grayscale and BlackRock. With 16,000 financial advisors managing $6.2 trillion now fully incentivized to recommend Bitcoin, a massive institutional fee war is brewing.

While this makes Bitcoin cheaper for millions, compressing margins on an established asset won’t deliver a 100x return. True asymmetric upside happens during price discovery.

That is exactly why aggressive, crypto-native investors are securing their allocations in DeepSnitch AI. You have exactly two days until the March 31st DeepSnitch AI presale launch date arrives.

Morgan Stanley sets 0.14% Bitcoin ETF fee

Morgan Stanley just filed for a spot Bitcoin ETF with a market-crushing 0.14% fee. By directly undercutting titans like BlackRock, they are weaponizing their 16,000 financial advisors to push Bitcoin to $6.2 trillion in client assets without any fee conflicts.

This impending fee war will make Bitcoin ownership significantly cheaper overnight. However, while institutional adoption mainstreams the asset, it primarily compresses margins, it doesn’t create a 100x opportunity.

True asymmetric upside now migrates to early-stage intelligence platforms like DeepSnitch AI, capturing the explosive growth that conservative wealth management advisors will never approve for a client portfolio.

Top 3 cryptocurrencies to buy in 2026

DeepSnitch AI

Morgan Stanley’s 16,000 advisors are preparing to recommend Bitcoin ETFs to their $6.2 trillion client base. While this massive distribution event makes Bitcoin ownership highly accessible, it will not deliver a 100x return. Institutional adoption stabilizes assets; it doesn’t exponentially multiply them.

DeepSnitch AI (DSNT) is built for investors who demand more than a safe, fee-optimized ETF recommendation. While Wall Street builds distribution channels for assets the market already understands, DeepSnitch’s five specialized AI agents hunt for early-stage, high-potential projects that conservative compliance departments will never approve.

This platform completely closes the retail information gap. From a single, unified dashboard, investors can evaluate complex project risks, track hidden whale activity, and position themselves ahead of major market moves. You essentially gain a tireless, institutional-grade research assistant surfacing opportunities before they ever make mainstream headlines.

Currently priced at $0.04669, DSNT has attracted serious attention from analysts projecting massive upside upon its public launch. True wealth generation in crypto requires discovering utility before the masses do, and DeepSnitch AI delivers exactly that.

With the DeepSnitch AI presale launch date hitting on March 31st, this ground-floor entry opportunity is rapidly closing.

Hyperliquid

Hyperliquid traded near $38.27 on March 27, flashing two severe technical warnings that converge on a highly bearish near-term setup. The ultimate danger lies at the $35.03 support level.

A massive $27.36 million in long liquidations is stacked precisely at $35.03. Because the zone between $38 and $35 is dangerously thin, the price could easily slice through with zero friction, triggering a devastating cascade of forced closures.

Furthermore, a confirmed double top projects a brutal 37% collapse toward $21.64 unless bulls can urgently reclaim $38.80 to stabilize the structure.

While Hyperliquid traders nervously pray their support levels hold, DeepSnitch AI (DSNT) offers a fundamentally different setup. With the $0.04669 presale price definitively closing on March 31st, DSNT’s asymmetric upside doesn’t require a technical floor to survive.

Pi Network

Pi Coin traded near $0.178 on March 27, pressing against the 0.236 Fibonacci resistance at $0.189. Alarmingly, on-chain indicators are mirroring the exact sequential decline that triggered a brutal 38% collapse in December 2025.

The Chaikin Money Flow (CMF) is the most glaring warning. After peaking near 0.30 in mid-March, it has plunged to -0.11, perfectly echoing the December crash before CMF bottomed out.

With the Money Flow Index (MFI) declining at 35.23, history shows that oversold conditions might not trigger a reversal. A confirmed double top projects a 33% decline toward Pi’s $0.130 all-time low unless bulls can urgently reclaim $0.210.

Closing thoughts

Morgan Stanley just slashed its upcoming Bitcoin ETF fee to a record-low 0.14%. With 16,000 advisors managing $6.2 trillion in assets, this massive distribution milestone makes Bitcoin cheaper for millions. But let’s be candid, institutional stabilization won’t deliver a 100x return.

DeepSnitch AI offers a fundamentally different opportunity. At $0.04669, its live AI dashboard is already helping retail investors track whale movements and audit contracts.

While Wall Street optimizes fees for legacy assets, DeepSnitch democratizes institutional-grade intelligence for the masses. You have exactly two days before the DeepSnitch AI presale launch date on March 31st permanently closes this ground-floor opportunity.

Visit the official DeepSnitch AI website, join Telegram, and follow on X for more updates.

FAQs

When is the DeepSnitch AI launch date, and what price are analysts projecting post-listing?

The DeepSnitch AI presale launch date is March 31st on Uniswap, hours away. Analysts project a 100x move to $4, with $2.6M raised and 210% presale gains already locked in.

Why does the DeepSnitch AI listing date matter more than Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF fee war?

Morgan Stanley’s 0.14% fee makes Bitcoin ETF ownership marginally cheaper for $6.2 trillion in wealth management assets. The DeepSnitch AI presale launch date offers 100x potential from a live platform that finds the early-stage opportunities Morgan Stanley’s advisors will never recommend.

What should investors secure before the DeepSnitch AI release date closes the presale window permanently?

Entry at $0.04669 with active bonus codes, five live AI agents already running in real market conditions, and a Uniswap listing hours away. After the DeepSnitch AI presale launch date, the only entry point is the open market, and it will not look anything like what is available right now.

Disclaimer: This is a Press Release provided by a third party who is responsible for the content. Please conduct your own research before taking any action based on the content.

TLDR:

• Pendle’s TN Lee represented DeFi alongside Wall Street giants at Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister meeting in New York.
  
• Vietnam is building sandbox models for both permissioned and permissionless tokenized assets to attract global capital.
  
• Tokenized bonds, ETFs, and private credit were central to discussions about Vietnam’s emerging financial infrastructure.
  
• Pendle’s inclusion signals DeFi protocols now hold a credible seat at the highest institutional financial policy tables.

Pendle joined some of Wall Street’s most powerful institutions to shape Vietnam’s financial future. TN Lee represented the protocol in New York alongside Deutsche Bank, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Franklin Templeton, and Anchorage Digital.

The delegation met with Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister to discuss the country’s ambitions for an International Financial Center. The meeting positioned Pendle as a credible voice for decentralized finance at the highest institutional levels.

Wall Street and DeFi Unite Around Vietnam’s Tokenization Potential

Pendle’s inclusion in the New York delegation alongside Wall Street’s biggest names was far from accidental. Vietnam’s leadership deliberately assembled a group spanning both traditional finance and emerging digital asset sectors.

The goal was to build a comprehensive case for Vietnam as a next-generation financial hub. That mix of institutions signals a broad and serious commitment to the country’s financial development.

TN Lee spoke directly to Vietnam’s potential as a market for tokenized bonds, ETFs, and private credit. As noted by @pendle_fi, Lee also made a strong case for the depth of talent Vietnam has to offer.

These points landed before an audience of institutional heavyweights rarely found in the same room as DeFi protocols. The moment reflected how significantly the tokenization conversation has shifted within mainstream finance.

Vietnam’s government is actively constructing the regulatory infrastructure to match its ambitions. Sandbox models covering both permissioned and permissionless assets are currently on the table.

That dual approach reflects a measured yet forward-thinking posture toward digital financial markets. Wall Street institutions present in the room clearly responded to this structured regulatory direction.

The meeting also reinforced that Vietnam is not simply watching the tokenization trend from a distance. Its leadership is making deliberate and targeted moves to attract global financial partners.

Bringing together Deutsche Bank, BlackRock, and Pendle under one policy conversation shows the breadth of that strategy. Each institution brings a different layer to what Vietnam is trying to build.

Pendle Positions Itself as DeFi’s Voice in Institutional Finance Discussions

Pendle’s seat at the table alongside Wall Street giants marked a turning point for DeFi’s role in formal financial policy. Traditional institutions have long dominated these high-level government discussions, without representation from blockchain.

That dynamic shifted visibly in New York when TN Lee addressed Vietnam’s Deputy Prime Minister directly. It established Pendle not just as a participant but as an advocate for the entire DeFi sector.

According to @pendle_fi, the protocol views Vietnam’s brightest days in decentralized finance as still ahead. That long-term perspective aligns with how Wall Street institutions typically approach emerging market opportunities.

Pendle is not entering Vietnam for short-term positioning but for sustained strategic involvement. This approach mirrors the patient capital mindset that major financial institutions bring to frontier markets.

Vietnam’s talent base emerged as a recurring point throughout the delegation’s discussions in New York. Skilled professionals across blockchain, finance, and technology are already driving adoption within the country.

That human capital argument carries significant weight with institutions assessing long-term market viability. Wall Street partners look beyond regulation to the people who will ultimately build and operate these systems.

Moving forward, the sandbox frameworks Vietnam develops will determine how quickly tokenized products reach the market. Pendle is already embedded in that process as an early and active participant.

Its presence alongside Morgan Stanley, Franklin Templeton, and Anchorage Digital has set a clear precedent. DeFi protocols can and will play a role in shaping the financial infrastructure of tomorrow’s emerging markets.

TLDR:

• Linea’s shift to RISC-V reduces instruction complexity from EVM’s full opcode set to roughly 40 instructions.
  
• Every Ethereum hard fork previously forced complete rewrites of Linea’s ZK constraint modules under the old system.
  
• RISC-V enables Type-1 Ethereum compatibility automatically through standard compiler tooling, replacing manual constraint work.
  
• Linea retains zkC, Vortex, and Arcane in the new stack, preserving years of cryptographic research and production experience.

Linea, the Ethereum Layer 2 network developed by ConsenSys, is transitioning from direct EVM arithmetization to a RISC-V-based proving architecture.

The team spent three years building one of the most rigorous ZK proving systems in production. That work produced a 1,000-page specification that became an ecosystem reference.

However, the approach created maintenance challenges that slowed progress. The move to RISC-V marks a strategic reset focused on performance, modularity, and Ethereum alignment.

A Simpler Instruction Set Changes Everything

The EVM operates with a complex, dynamic state model that is difficult to translate into mathematical constraints. RISC-V, by contrast, offers approximately 40 instructions and 32 registers.

That simplicity makes traces narrower and allows the prover to start working on proof chunks immediately. The performance gains are structural, not incremental.

Every Ethereum hard fork previously required complete rewrites of Linea’s constraint modules. That maintenance burden consumed significant research capacity.

The team was managing complexity instead of advancing cryptographic performance. Switching to RISC-V removes that cycle entirely.

Type-1 Ethereum compatibility was another major obstacle under the old architecture. Achieving it required implementing Keccak, RLP, and the Merkle Patricia Trie manually inside constraints.

With RISC-V, a standard EVM client compiles directly to a RISC-V binary, and the compiler handles compatibility automatically.

Linea’s cryptographic researcher Alexandre Belling presented the transition at the eth_proofs conference. As Linea posted on X, the team is moving toward “true modularity,” where every layer can be independently benchmarked, audited, or replaced. That was not achievable with the tightly coupled system previously in use.

The Ethereum Foundation has also committed to RISC-V as part of its proving layer roadmap. Linea cited this as a deciding factor. Continuing on the previous path would have meant diverging from Ethereum’s long-term technical direction.

What Carries Forward Into the New Stack

Linea is not discarding years of work. The team’s constraint-native language, zkC, will be used to write the RISC-V virtual machine. Vortex and Arcane, which handle proving and aggregation, are architecture-independent and transfer directly.

Formal verification is being built into the new system from the start. Constraints are being designed for export to tools like Lean. That approach makes the stack auditable by a much wider audience than before.

Linea also retains full-stack ownership across its infrastructure. That includes the Besu execution client, the Maru consensus layer, the ZK prover, and the gateway. No critical third-party dependencies exist in the architecture.

As Linea noted in a follow-up post on X, direct EVM arithmetization was “difficult to audit without deep cryptographic expertise.”

RISC-V is widely taught, well documented, and supported by a growing developer ecosystem. The shift makes the proving stack accessible beyond Linea’s internal team.

The transition positions Linea as an early mover in a space where the broader Ethereum ecosystem is now converging.

Years of production proving experience now apply to a simpler, faster architecture. The team has indicated more technical details will follow in the coming weeks.

Developers from Gnosis and Zisk, with backing from the Ethereum Foundation, have proposed a new framework aimed at unifying Ethereum’s fragmented layer-2 ecosystem by enabling rollups to interact seamlessly with each other and the mainnet in a single transaction.

According to an announcement shared with Cointelegraph, the proposed “Ethereum Economic Zone” (EEZ) would allow smart contracts on different rollups to execute synchronously across networks without relying on bridges.

The initiative targets a key trade-off in Ethereum’s scaling strategy, where dozens of layer-2 networks have improved throughput but split liquidity, infrastructure and user activity across separate environments.

If implemented, the framework would let applications share infrastructure across rollups while settling back to Ethereum, reducing duplication and the need for cross-chain transfers.

The project is being developed together with Ethereum researchers and industry participants, with early contributors including infrastructure providers and DeFi protocols exploring a shared standard for interoperable rollups.