The desire for dedollarization exists but is complex to achieve. The Dollar Milkshake Theory outlines how sovereign debt crises impact markets. US assets are predicted to outperform due to superior market structure.

The post Brent Johnson: Dedollarization is complex and unlikely, the Dollar Milkshake Theory reveals market impacts, and a currency crisis is mathematically inevitable | Bankless appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The belief that software can solve everything is misguided, indicating a need for more realistic expectations in tech. Transitioning between SaaS providers is becoming cheaper, impacting business decisions and competition. London offers advantages over Silicon Valley for tech startups, such as ch...

The post Anish Acharya: Software’s limitations are often overlooked | 20VC appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Jupiter launches native staking as collateral on Jupiter Lend, unlocking $30B in staked SOL for DeFi borrowing without liquid tokens.

The post Jupiter launches native staking as collateral, unlocking $30B in staked SOL for DeFi appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

The current global economy is heavily influenced by wartime conditions, impacting economic, military, and strategic asset dynamics. Global conflicts are expected to intensify, suggesting increased volatility in markets. Deglobalization and geopolitical tensions are reshaping market behaviors and ...

The post Cem Karsan: Wartime economy reshapes global markets, political populism drives inflation trends, and authoritarianism threatens economic stability | Forward Guidance appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Metaplanet reports a $621M net loss after a $668M Bitcoin valuation hit despite 738% revenue growth and strong operating profit.

The post Metaplanet posts $621M loss after Bitcoin valuation swing appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Metaplanet Reports $619 Million Loss as Bitcoin Holdings Take Hit

Tokyo-based Bitcoin treasury firm Metaplanet posted a net loss of 95 billion yen ($619 million) for fiscal 2025, driven by a 102.2 billion yen ($665.8 million) valuation decline on its bitcoin holdings. 

The disclosure marks the latest example of a corporate bitcoin buyer facing pressure as the cryptocurrency’s price slid from record highs in October.

The company closed the year with 35,102 BTC, valued at approximately $2.4 billion, making Metaplanet the fourth-largest public corporate bitcoin holder globally, behind Strategy. Since it began accumulating bitcoin 21 months ago, Metaplanet has spent nearly $3.8 billion, averaging $107,000 per coin.

As of December 31, the company’s holdings were down roughly 37% on paper, representing an unrealized loss of about $1.4 billion. In the fourth quarter alone, the stash lost 102 billion yen ($664 million) in value.

Metaplanet’s revenue surge

Despite the valuation loss, the firm’s operating performance showed significant improvement. Revenue jumped 738% to 8.91 billion yen ($58 million) from 1.06 billion yen ($6.9 million) the previous year, the company said.

Operating profit surged 1,695% to 6.29 billion yen ($41 million), driven primarily by premiums from bitcoin option transactions, which accounted for about 95% of total revenue.

The company’s largest acquisitions occurred when bitcoin traded above $100,000. Notable purchases included 25% growth of its bitcoin holdings with a $630 million buy in September at roughly $106,000 per coin, followed by a $615 million acquisition in October near $108,000.

The firm has funded its purchases largely through common stock issuances, while also adopting preferred shares to secure additional capital. Metaplanet introduced MERCURY and MARS, its first preferred share offerings in Japan, as a means to strengthen its balance sheet and create a buffer against crypto market volatility. 

For fiscal 2026, Metaplanet forecasts revenue of 16 billion yen ($104 million) and operating profit of 11.4 billion yen ($74.3 million), reflecting roughly 80% growth in both metrics. The company did not provide net income guidance, citing ongoing bitcoin price volatility, but reaffirmed a long-term target of 210,000 BTC by 2027, equivalent to about 1% of the total bitcoin supply.

Metaplanet’s stock edged up slightly to 326 yen on Monday, according to Yahoo Finance, after a six-month decline exceeding 62%.

At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading near $68,000.

This post Metaplanet Reports $619 Million Loss as Bitcoin Holdings Take Hit first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Bears Dominate: Failure to Break $71,800 Keeps Downside Risk Alive

Bitcoin Price Weekly Outlook

The past week’s price action has been rather lackluster for Bitcoin. After seeing a big bounce from $60,000, the price failed to get above short-term resistance at $71,800 last week. Instead, the price tested the short-term support at $65,650 before bouncing back up to close the week out at $68,811. While the weekly chart is showing some buying strength below $66,000, the lack of follow-through for buyers on the bounces so far is a sign of weakness. Look for the price to drift towards the $60,000 lows this week if the bulls can’t keep it above $71,000 on a daily close to challenge higher levels.

Key Support and Resistance Levels Now

Last week, $65,650 proved to be valid short-term support as the price dipped just below it before rallying quickly back above it. If a day closes below $65,650, look for $63,000 to act as support. Below $63,000, we have the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement at $57,800. This is a key level to hold as there isn’t much support below until $44,000.

If the bulls can muster up some strength, resistance still sits overhead at $71,800. Closing above this level leads to $74,500, with $79,000 resistance above here. If the bulls can somehow manage to get above $79,000 (unlikely), $84,000 remains as a very strong barrier up above.

Outlook For This Week

The outlook for this week is a tough one to call. U.S. markets are closed on Monday, so don’t expect too much movement until Tuesday morning. We really could go either way from this $68,800 close. I would look for the $67,000 level to be tested early this week, and if we see support near there, we may be able to push past $71,000 later into the week. If $67,000 is lost, though, look for the low $60,000 to be challenged once again.

Market mood: Very bearish – The price could not manage to gain any upward momentum last week at all. The bears are in full control.

The next few weeks
As I mentioned last week, the price may range in the area from $60,000 to $80,000 for a while, with maybe a wick down to the 0.618 Fibonacci retracement at $57,800. At the moment, this ceiling can be lowered to $74.5k. There is no telling exactly when the impending “Crypto Bill” will be passed by Congress, or exactly what it will entail for the crypto space as a whole. It is not guaranteed to result in higher prices for bitcoin when it eventually passes, either, so for now, we must rely on the technicals to guide us. For the time being, the bias is still bearish, and if we lose $57,800, the bitcoin price will likely take the next leg down.

Terminology Guide:

Bulls/Bullish: Buyers or investors expecting the price to go higher.

Bears/Bearish: Sellers or investors expecting the price to go lower.

Support or support level: A level at which the price should hold for the asset, at least initially. The more touches on support, the weaker it gets and the more likely it is to fail to hold the price.

Resistance or resistance level: Opposite of support.  The level that is likely to reject the price, at least initially. The more touches at resistance, the weaker it gets and the more likely it is to fail to hold back the price.

Fibonacci Retracements and Extensions: Ratios based on what is known as the golden ratio, a universal ratio pertaining to growth and decay cycles in nature. The golden ratio is based on the constants Phi (1.618) and phi (0.618).

This post Bitcoin Bears Dominate: Failure to Break $71,800 Keeps Downside Risk Alive first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Ethan Greene - Feral Analysis and Juan Galt.

Bitcoin Magazine

Payjoin Foundation Gains 501(c)(3) Status, Enabling Tax-Deductible Donations for Bitcoin Privacy Development

The Payjoin Foundation, a U.S. organization advancing the development of Bitcoin privacy software protocols, has just received 501(c)(3) Status, enabling tax-deductible charitable contributions for some U.S. taxpayers. 

“Receiving 501(c)(3) status establishes a framework to sustain the Payjoin Dev Kit and future developments,” said Dan Gould, Executive Director of Payjoin Foundation. “It allows us to prioritize the development of infrastructure designed to endure, accountable to the public interest.”

Payjoin Foundation is a nonprofit research and development organization maintaining the Payjoin Dev Kit. It is dedicated to developing and distributing open-source software and standards that improve privacy, security, and usability in peer-to-peer digital transactions with a primary focus on Bitcoin. 

The Foundation conducts research, publishes freely available software and educational materials, and supports the adoption of the technology it develops by providing reference implementations, technical documentation, and integration guidance to developers and infrastructure operators. The Foundation also works to advance public understanding of privacy-preserving financial infrastructure. 

“Now that the IRS has recognized Payjoin Foundation as a 501(c)(3), donations from U.S. taxpayers are generally tax-deductible. The exact treatment depends on the donor’s circumstances. Consult your tax advisor,” said Gould of the announcement.

With more sustainable funding, the efforts of the foundation can accelerate, as it improves protocols like Async Payjoin, which protects Bitcoin users from indiscriminate or targeted surveillance of various kinds. Bitcoin has long been criticized for having poor privacy for users not savvy to its more advanced tooling, and the Payjoin dev kit makes it easy for wallets to upgrade the privacy of all its users with a high-quality open source software library.

The adoption of Payjoin as a privacy solution is not done at the Bitcoin protocol level and so does not require any kind of consensus change, soft fork or hard fork, instead, wallet providers can integrate the dev kit into their software, and unlock the capability to their users, which is backwards compatible with normal onchain address QR codes and intelligently identifies if the sender or receiver also supports the standard or not. 

Users interested in easier and more broadly adopted Bitcoin privacy should reach out to their favorite Bitcoin wallet providers and encourage them to integrate the Payjoin Devkit, or consider making a tax-deductible contribution to the Payjoin Foundation. 

A variety of wallets already offer some support for the Payjoin dev kit, including but not limited to: 

• BTCPay server
• Blue Wallet
• Bull Bitcoin Mobile
• Wasabi Wallet
• Cake Wallet
• Bitmask
• JoinMarket
• Sparrow Wallet

This post Payjoin Foundation Gains 501(c)(3) Status, Enabling Tax-Deductible Donations for Bitcoin Privacy Development first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Juan Galt.

Bitcoin Magazine

Trump Family-Backed American Bitcoin Keeps Stacking Bitcoin, Holdings Pass 6,000 BTC

Trump family-backed American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC) has pushed its Bitcoin reserves above the 6,000 BTC mark, building one of the largest corporate treasuries in the public market and placing the firm among the top 20 listed Bitcoin holders worldwide.

Blockchain data tracked by Arkham Intelligence shows American Bitcoin now holds 6,060 BTC, valued near $413 million. The company added or mined roughly 217 BTC over the past month, expanding its reserve during a period as bitcoin tries to reclaim levels above $70,000.

The accumulation reflects a strategy that blends mining output with direct market purchases, a model that has gained traction among firms seeking long-term exposure to bitcoin as a treasury asset. 

American Bitcoin’s bitcoin stash is closing in on Galaxy Digital’s holdings, according to data from BitcoinTreasuries.net. The site lists Galaxy Digital as holding 6,894 BTC.

It’s been a rough couple of months for the company’s shares. ABTC shares traded around $1.14 after Friday’s close up about 1.75%, though the stock remains lower on the year. 

ABTC shares have slid over the past two months. The stock traded above $2 in early January but has declined as bitcoin’s price weakened into the new year. Shares are now down roughly 45% year to date.

The firm has framed its approach as a “mining to treasury” pipeline rather than a pure mining business, aiming to outperform traditional operators by retaining bitcoin rather than selling production into the market.

American Bitcoin’s bitcoin yield

Earlier this year, American Bitcoin reported reserves near 5,843 BTC and cited a bitcoin yield of roughly 116% since its Nasdaq debut in September 2025 through late January 2026. Bitcoin yield tracks growth in holdings from mined or purchased coins, separate from capital raising activity.

With reserves now above 6,000 BTC, American Bitcoin joins a growing cohort of public companies treating bitcoin as a core treasury asset. 

On Saturday, Bitcoin rebounded above $70,000 following a sharp February increase, aided by cooler-than-expected U.S. inflation data that boosted risk appetite. 

Softer inflation strengthened expectations of earlier Federal Reserve rate cuts, lifting crypto markets and pushing Bitcoin’s market cap back above $1.4 trillion.

Last year, American Bitcoin Corp. (ABTC) debuted on Nasdaq in September following a spin-off from Hut 8 Corp. Eric Trump and Donald Trump Jr. helped launch the company as Eric serves as co-founder and chief strategy officer. Donald Trump Jr. is listed as an investor.

This post Trump Family-Backed American Bitcoin Keeps Stacking Bitcoin, Holdings Pass 6,000 BTC first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Harvard Trims Bitcoin Position by 21% in Q4 Portfolio Shift

Harvard Management Company switched up its crypto exposure in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, establishing its first position in an Ethereum exchange-traded fund while cutting back its Bitcoin holdings, according to a regulatory filing released Friday.

The endowment’s investment manager purchased 3.87 million shares of BlackRock’s iShares Ethereum Trust, a stake valued at $86.8 million as of Dec. 31. The move marked Harvard’s first publicly disclosed investment tied to Ethereum.

At the same time, Harvard reduced its position in BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust. The firm held 5.35 million shares worth $265.8 million at quarter’s end, down from 6.81 million shares in the prior quarter. The reduction amounted to roughly 1.48 million shares, or about 21%.

Despite the trim, Bitcoin remained Harvard’s largest publicly disclosed equity holding, exceeding the endowment’s reported stakes in major technology firms such as Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon. Combined exposure to the two cryptocurrency funds totaled $352.6 million at the close of the quarter.

The portfolio shift took place during a turbulent period for digital assets. Bitcoin reached a peak near $126,000 in October 2025 before sliding to $88,429 by Dec. 31, according to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data.

Ethereum declined roughly 30% over the same span.

Bitcoin’s lack of intrinsic value

According to Harvard’s The Harvard Crimson, the university’s investment strategy has drawn criticism from academic observers. Andrew F. Siegel, emeritus professor of finance at the University of Washington, described the endowment’s Bitcoin investment as risky, pointing to a 22.8% decline year-to-date and arguing that Bitcoin’s risk stems in part from its lack of intrinsic value.

Beyond crypto, Harvard opened a new $141 million stake in Union Pacific Corporation, one of the largest freight rail operators in the United States. 

The investment followed Union Pacific’s July 2025 announcement of a planned merger with Norfolk Southern, a deal expected to create the country’s first transcontinental railroad network.

The quarter also brought exits from prior holdings. Harvard sold its entire 1.1 million-share stake in Light & Wonder, a gambling products manufacturer that had been among its largest positions, and liquidated a smaller stake in Maze Therapeutics, a biotechnology firm focused on precision medicines.

Harvard increased exposure to several technology companies, more than tripling its stake in Broadcom and raising holdings in Google and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company. The endowment reduced positions in Amazon, Microsoft, and Nvidia.

This post Harvard Trims Bitcoin Position by 21% in Q4 Portfolio Shift first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Aave Labs posted a governance proposal on Feb. 12 asking tokenholders to endorse a strategic package that would direct 100% of Aave-branded product revenue to the DAO treasury, formalize brand protection, and center the roadmap on Aave V4.

The initiative was named the “Aave Will Win Framework.”

The proposal hasn't been implemented yet, as an early governance temperature check. Yet, the public framing is unambiguous: “We believe there's no better time to align behind a token-centric vision and position Aave to win over the next decade.”

That timing language is the real story.

Aave isn't just restructuring its economics. Instead, it is building as if the US enforcement overhang that defined 2022 through 2024 is shrinking, and value accrual to tokenholders is safe to pursue again.

The proposal explicitly references “regulatory clarity emerging in certain markets,” and the numbers suggest that assessment isn't just vibes.

SEC crypto enforcement fell 60% in 2025 compared with 2024, dropping from 33 actions to 13, per Cornerstone Research. That decline coincides with the first year under SEC Chair Paul Atkins.

Additionally, the SEC's 2026 exam priorities placed less emphasis on crypto than in prior years, and the agency voluntarily dismissed its Binance lawsuit with prejudice, a move that explicitly links to the President Donald Trump administration's policy stance.

The DOJ also signaled a softer posture, with a memo that scaled back certain crypto-platform enforcement and disbanded the national crypto enforcement team.

Aave's move reads like pricing in a multi-year window, when enforcement risk is lower, and protocols can compete like businesses again without immediately triggering securities-tripwire fears. This includes budgets, brand protection, and product revenue funnels.

That's bigger than one proposal. It's a regime-shift thesis playing out across DeFi.

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Dec 23, 2025 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Building like a business, but on-chain

The Aave framework goes beyond tokenomics. It defines a comprehensive operating model.

If approved, the DAO would receive product revenues from aave.com interface fees, the mobile app, card products, Aave Pro, Aave Kit, Aave Horizon, and even an AAVE exchange-traded product line item.

Aave claims the swap integration on aave.com generates roughly $10 million in annualized revenue that would flow to the DAO under the framework. It also states that Aave V3 generates over $100 million in annualized revenue.

Those numbers position the DAO as more than a governance wrapper, as it's being set up to steward a brand, allocate capital, and pursue regulated product ambitions.

The proposal bundles value capture with brand and IP protection, operational funding, and a faster execution path than governance by committee would allow.

Aave says it has been self-funding product development and legal work, including SEC defense, and now wants to align behind a token-centric model.

The framing is explicit: build the DAO to function as an entity that can compete institutionally, not just in a decentralized manner.

That shift matters because, when enforcement is intense, protocols avoid anything that appears to be profit distribution.

When enforcement cools, the opportunity cost of governance-only tokens becomes harder to defend, especially with institutions looming as users. Aave is betting the enforcement window has opened wide enough to make value accrual a feature, not a liability.

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Jan 30, 2026 · Gino Matos

Value accrual is back

Aave isn't alone. Uniswap is pursuing a similar playbook.

The UNIfication proposal aims to turn on protocol fees and burn UNI, among other ecosystem changes.

DefiLlama's Uniswap V2 methodology shows that since Dec. 28, 2025, 17% of Ethereum fees have been allocated to UNI buybacks and burns. Tokenholder value accrual is embedded directly into the protocol’s live design and operations.

Uniswap is also pursuing a broader fee-and-burn roadmap across versions over time.

Other protocols already show measurable value accrual. DefiLlama tracks “holders revenue” across protocols such as Pendle, illustrating that value-capture mechanisms are normalized across parts of DeFi.

The data infrastructure exists to measure fees, revenue, and tokenholder-directed flows, which makes the shift from “governance token with unclear value” to “token with measurable capture” legible to institutions.

The pattern is clear: protocols that avoided fee switches or value routing during the enforcement-heavy years are reopening those levers. The calculus changed because the risk profile changed.

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Citadel pushes SEC to classify open-source developers as unregistered stockbrokers – Uniswap fires back

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Dec 6, 2025 · Gino Matos

What the regime shift signals

Back to building like a business, but on-chain. Aave's proposal doesn't read like a DAO governance exercise. It reads like a company outlining its revenue model, brand strategy, and institutional roadmap.

The difference is that the “company” is on-chain, the budget flows to a treasury governed by tokenholders, and the distribution mechanism runs through smart contracts. However, the operational logic is familiar: capture value, allocate resources, protect IP, and compete for market share.

That kind of clarity was radioactive when the SEC was treating most tokens as unregistered securities. Now it's being pitched as a competitive advantage.

Regime shift triggers value-accrual experiments. When the enforcement posture shifts, the opportunity set for protocol design shifts as well.

The underlying technology didn't change. The regulatory environment did, and that unlocks design space.

Protocols can now experiment with fee switches, treasury routing, buybacks, burns, and distribution mechanisms that were too legally risky to implement when every token allocation was under scrutiny.

The next fight is legitimacy alongside decentralization. Aave bundles brand and IP protection into a single package alongside token-centric alignment. That’s a bet that the DAO must operate as a legible entity capable of stewarding a brand and a product suite, functioning as a coherent organization with accountable ownership over its ecosystem.

The proposal positions the DAO to interact with regulated markets, such as exchange-traded products, institutional custody, and compliance-wrapped interfaces. At the same time, it maintains on-chain economics.

That tension between decentralization and institutional legibility is the new frontier.

What could derail this

Aave’s framework remains a governance proposal awaiting implementation. Legislative optionality exists, but the policy architecture is still developing.

Yet, if enforcement resurges, protocols could pause value accrual, route more through foundations or offshore structures, or limit US exposure.

Technical and competitive risks also matter. If Aave's product revenue projections don't materialize, or if competitors offer better terms by avoiding tokenholder routing, the framework's appeal diminishes.

If the regulatory environment shifts again and the SEC or DOJ treats fee-routing structures as securities violations, the entire value-accrual thesis collapses back into risk mitigation mode.

Three forward scenarios

One potential scenario moving forward is a “durable thaw.”

If the current posture persists, expect more DAOs to flip fee switches, formalize budgets, and pursue US-compliant product wrappers. Key indicators to watch are the decline or flatlining of SEC crypto actions, incremental rulemaking, and more protocols copying the “protocol usage → token burn or treasury” model.

Another scenario is clarity without comfort. Laws move, but enforcement stays selective. Protocols engineer token-centric models to avoid “dividend optics,” more treasury routing, buybacks, and burns versus direct payouts.

Topics to watch are progress or stalls on bills like CLARITY and agency guidance details.

Lastly, a whipsaw is also a likely scenario. Political or legal backlash, or high-profile protocol failures, trigger a resurgence in enforcement.

Protocols pause value accrual, route more through foundations or offshore, or limit US exposure.
Even a friendlier SEC still says “fraud is fraud,” and a major scandal could reset the tolerance for tokenholder-directed revenue.

What's at stake

Aave's proposal doesn't just ask tokenholders to endorse a budget. It asks them to endorse a thesis on what the next decade will look like: protocols competing as businesses, value accruing to tokens, and DAOs functioning as institutions.

That thesis depends on the US regulatory environment remaining more favorable than it was in 2022 through 2024.

The enforcement data, exam priorities, and dismissed cases suggest that the bet is rational at this time. Whether it holds for a decade is the open question.

Protocols are repricing themselves in anticipation of a window they believe is open. How long it stays open, and whether other jurisdictions follow or diverge, will determine whether this wave of value-accrual experiments becomes the new normal or another chapter in DeFi's regulatory whiplash.

The post If the SEC stays softer, Aave’s DAO could start capturing $100M+ annualized revenue appeared first on CryptoSlate.

In 2025 and early 2026, Bitcoin's behavior has been less “digital gold” and more regime-dependent. Sometimes it trades like a tech beta, then like a rates-and-liquidity-duration trade, and only intermittently like a hedge.

The real story is which macro regime makes which identity dominate next.

The setup matters. The Federal Reserve held the Fed funds target range at 3.5% to 3.75% on Jan. 28, reinforcing a “watch incoming data” stance rather than a clean easing tailwind.

The IMF's January 2026 update projects 3.3% global growth in 2026, with “technology investment and accommodative financial conditions” offsetting trade headwinds, an environment that tends to keep equity and tech risk factors relevant.

Against that backdrop, Bitcoin's correlations indicate which identity is prevailing.

CME Group notes that crypto's correlation with the Nasdaq 100 in 2025 and early 2026 has been as strong as +0.35 to +0.6, whereas Bitcoin's correlations with gold and the US dollar have weakened to roughly zero in recent years.

That's a shift from 2022 and 2023, when Bitcoin's negative correlation with the US dollar reached about –0.4. In this regime, Bitcoin trades less like a macro hedge and more like a liquidity-sensitive tech risk factor.

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Feb 12, 2026 · Liam 'Akiba' Wright

Three identities, and when does Bitcoin behave like each one of them

Hedge means that Bitcoin should benefit when the dollar weakens or when investors seek a store-of-value hedge with gold-like characteristics.

High-beta tech refers to Bitcoin's behavior as a leveraged cousin of the Nasdaq 100 on risk-on and risk-off days.

Liquidity sponge means Bitcoin absorbs and reflects changes in financial plumbing, such as ETF flow reversals, funding conditions, reserves and cash facilities, acting like the first asset repriced when liquidity tightens or loosens.

The piece is evergreen if you treat these as three identities that Bitcoin rotates among, rather than one “true” identity. The rotation depends on the macro regime, which is measurable.

The “digital gold” claim has been weaker recently. CME's framing is direct: Bitcoin's rolling correlation with gold has never been very high, peaking at +0.41 on a rolling 12-month basis during the quantitative easing era, and has been near zero since 2024.

Bitcoin's negative dollar correlation, which reached about -0.4 in 2022 and 2023, has also weakened toward zero by 2025 and early 2026.

The hedge identity isn't dead, but it's dormant. In the current regime, Bitcoin doesn't decouple from the dollar when the dollar weakens, and it doesn't track gold's moves.

For the high-beta tech, the evidence is strongest. CME notes crypto has shown a consistently positive relationship with the Nasdaq 100 since 2020, and in 2025 and early 2026 it's often in the +0.35 to +0.6 range.

In “AI-risk-on and risk-off” days, Bitcoin trades like an equity risk factor, often falling more than tech on selloffs. High beta cuts both ways: Bitcoin amplifies Nasdaq gains on the way up and magnifies losses on the way down.

This is the identity that predominates when growth holds, and financial conditions remain supportive.

For the liquidity sponge personality, rates can be flat while liquidity still moves. BlackRock argues that Bitcoin has historically shown sensitivity to dollar real rates, similar to gold and emerging-market foreign exchange.

As a result, “slower cuts or higher real yields” can pressure Bitcoin even if no new policy shock lands. FRED provides clean public series to anchor “plumbing”: the Fed balance sheet and reverse repo facility usage.

Bitcoin can behave like a liquidity sponge when the marginal buyer or seller is flow-driven, regardless of the headline policy rate.

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Jan 19, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Scenarios and what to watch

While Bitcoin struggles to decide which identity it will assume, different scenarios are possible.
The first is “risk-on tech beta,” which serves as the base case if growth holds and financial conditions remain supportive.

Bitcoin's identity would be high-beta tech dominance if its rolling correlation with Nasdaq stays elevated in the +0.35 to +0.6 regime. Additionally, correlations with gold and the dollar remain weak, at approximately zero.

Bitcoin isn't hedging, but participating in the same risk complex as tech equities.

The second scenario is “sticky inflation and higher real yields,” which assumes the policy rate remains steady while real yields rise.

Bitcoin's identity would shift to liquidity and real-rate duration trade, with higher real rates and tighter financial conditions coinciding with Bitcoin drawdowns.

Reverse repo and other plumbing proxies show tighter reserve and liquidity conditions. Bitcoin sells off like a long-duration asset when the discount rate rises, even if nominal rates don't move much.

The third scenario is a “shock regime,” which involves trade disruptions, geopolitical escalation, or a credit event.

Bitcoin's identity would initially see correlations spike, with a potential “hedge” narrative reemerging later, and cross-asset correlations would rise during the initial shock as risk books de-gross.

Post-shock, if the dollar weakens and monetary or fiscal support rises, Bitcoin can regain “hedge-ish” behavior. However, this must be measured, not assumed.

The 2022 and 2023 regimes showed that Bitcoin could act more like a hedge when macroeconomic stress was paired with dollar weakness, but this is not automatic.

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Feb 13, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Myth-busting and what actually changes

Investors should stop arguing about what Bitcoin is and start measuring what Bitcoin is doing.

Correlations, real-rate sensitivity, and flow channels are observable and update faster than narratives. CME notes that other major tokens are highly correlated with Bitcoin, often in the +0.6 to +0.8 range, so Bitcoin's identity shift drags the complex with it.

Institutional market structure increases macro transmission. ETF flows can amplify moves in both directions: an easy on-ramp and an easy exit.

The liquidity sponge identity matters more now because institutional access is bidirectional.
Real rates matter, but so do plumbing and flows.

The Federal Reserve's balance sheet, reverse repo usage, and money stock are publicly available series that track financial plumbing. When these tighten or loosen, Bitcoin reprices quickly.

“Bitcoin is an inflation hedge.” Sometimes, but recent correlations with gold and the dollar have weakened. Don't assume hedge behavior without data. The evidence from 2025 and early 2026 indicates that Bitcoin behaves more like a technology risk factor.

“Bitcoin decouples when the USD falls.” That was more true in 2022 and 2023 than in 2025 and early 2026, per CME's discussion of dollar correlations.

“Rates are the only macro driver.” Real rates matter, but so do plumbing and flows. BlackRock's real-rate sensitivity framework, plus reverse repo and Federal Reserve balance sheet proxies, indicates that liquidity conditions can move Bitcoin independently of the headline policy rate.

What's at stake

Bitcoin's identity crisis in 2026 isn't a philosophical debate. Instead, it's an empirical rotation between three measurable regimes.

The current regime favors high-beta tech identity, with liquidity sensitivity as the secondary driver and hedge behavior mostly dormant.

That can change, and the tells are observable: correlation shifts, real-rate moves, ETF flows, and plumbing indicators.

The next regime will reveal which identity dominates, and the answer will appear in the data before it appears in the narrative.

The post Bitcoin no longer acting like “digital gold” because its correlation with physical gold, USD collapsed appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The scoop: Bitcoin is on pace for a fifth straight monthly drop if February closes red, its longest losing streak since 2018, while spot ETF flows flip persistently negative, reinforcing a new reality: post-ETF BTC is trading like a rates-and-risk instrument. If it doesn't reverse in March and reclaim $80k, it will equal its worst period ever. 

Bitcoin has closed lower in each of the past four months, and February is negative mid-month, setting up a fifth straight monthly decline.

That outcome would mark Bitcoin’s longest monthly losing streak in six years, a stretch now being framed less as chart trivia and more as a macro stress test for the post-ETF market structure.

Data shows October 2025 through January 2026 each finished down, with November’s loss the deepest in the run.

February opened near $78,626 before trading in the high $60,000s around mid-month.

As of press time. Bitcoin trades at approximately $68,800, about 44–45% below the October peak at $126,000, and 12.6% down for the month.

The all-time record for monthly drawdowns sits at 6 months from January 2017 to August 2018. Bitcoin would equal that record if March also ends negatively.

Rates expectations and ETF flows

The drawdown arrived alongside a repricing in rates expectations that has kept risk assets sensitive to each incremental change in the “higher for longer” path, according to Ned Davis Research figures cited by Business Insider.

Fed funds futures continue to lean toward a hold into March 2026, with odds heavily weighted toward no change.

A stickier policy path tends to raise the hurdle for duration-like trades, and Bitcoin’s recent correlation profile has left it trading as a macro beta expression in many portfolios, particularly when equity volatility rises.

That macro channel is now being reinforced by the ETF wrapper itself.

Recent spot Bitcoin ETF trading sessions are skewing negative, with roughly $2 billion in net outflows over the last 3 weeks and multiple single-day totals in the hundreds of millions.

In this regime, downside can persist without a crypto-specific catalyst if redemptions and risk-parity-style de-risking keep pressuring the tape.

On-chain cost basis defines key levels

Glassnode’s latest on-chain work frames the selloff as a tightening contest between overhead supply and cost-basis support.

The firm said the True Market Mean near $80,200 has acted as overhead resistance, while the Realized Price near $55,800 has served as historically confirmable “re-engagement” territory during deeper resets.

Between those poles, Glassnode maps a dense cost-basis zone around $66,900–$70,600, a band that has functioned as a near-term reference for whether holders are defending aggregate entry points or capitulating into lower-liquidity pockets.

Those levels provide a simple forward corridor for the next one to three months because they line up with what other market commentary is already watching.

I've suggested multiple times that the likely market bottom for this cycle sits around $49,000, and the sooner Bitcoin hits that level, the more likely it is to gradually climb back into the 2028 halving.

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Barron’s described a $55,000–$60,000 area as a plausible volatility zone, pointing to the convergence of the 200-day moving average near $58,000 and an estimated average purchase price around $56,000 as potential anchors if selling accelerates.

Put differently, from roughly $68,800, the market is debating a path back toward the $80,200 “mean” area versus a slide toward the $55,800 realized-price region.

Each move represents a high-teens percentage swing.

The downside tails being circulated are also explicitly macro-linked.

Ned Davis Research, via Business Insider, framed a “crypto winter” stress case using prior bear-market averages (about 84% drawdowns over roughly 225 days), which would place Bitcoin near $31,000 if history were to rhyme at the extreme.

A separate Business Insider report cited a Zacks strategist outlining a $40,000 path over three to six months, tying the scenario to liquidity conditions and the duration of prior winter periods.

Those are not consensus targets, but they function as boundary markers for how far macro-driven de-risking can travel when flows and positioning are one-sided.

For the remainder of February, the calendar itself becomes the trigger.

A red monthly close would formalize a five-month run of declines and do so at a time when ETF flow persistence, on-chain cost-basis defense, and fed-funds pricing all point to Bitcoin trading as a rates-and-risk instrument rather than a standalone idiosyncratic market.

The post Bitcoin on track to equal its most bearish period in history – only one price matters now appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The scoop: The Netherlands has just moved to tax Bitcoin like a stock, marked to market. Lawmakers in the Dutch House backed a Box 3 overhaul that would tax “actual returns,”  including annual price changes in liquid assets like BTC, at a flat 36%, even if you never sell. The plan targets Jan. 1, 2028 (pending Senate approval), turning Bitcoin’s volatility into a yearly cash-flow problem.

The Dutch House of Representatives has approved a major overhaul of the Netherlands' Box 3 regime that would tax “actual returns” on savings and investments, including the annual change in value of liquid assets such as Bitcoin, at a flat 36% rate.

With a targeted start date of Jan. 1, 2028, pending Senate approval, the proposal signals a fundamental shift in how European governments may treat digital assets: moving from taxing the act of selling to taxing the act of holding.

While it is easy to summarize this legislative move as a “36% unrealized gains tax,” a more revealing framing is that the Netherlands is seeking to shift from a court-contested deemed-return system to one that treats many financial assets as if they were marked-to-market each year.

That shift does not just change what is taxed. It changes when Bitcoin holders feel the tax system, because BTC’s notorious volatility effectively becomes a cash-flow problem for local investors.

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How Box 3 works today, and why it already creates a carry cost

Box 3 is the Netherlands’ bucket for taxing returns on assets, covering savings, investments, second homes, and more.

Currently, much of Box 3 is calculated using assumed returns and a flat tax rate. This system means that even a flat or down year can still come with a bill.

The Dutch tax authority’s 2026 guidance indicates a 36% Box 3 tax rate and an assumed return of 6.00% for “investments and other assets,” a category that includes items such as shares and bonds (and, in practice, many non-cash holdings).

That alone can create a meaningful carry cost. A simple illustration clarifies the burden: if €100,000 of Bitcoin sits in the “investments and other assets” bucket at the margin, an assumed 6.00% return implies €6,000 of taxable return.

At 36%, the bill is €2,160, or about 2.16% of the position per year before thresholds and offsets.

The 2028 proposal flips this logic entirely. Instead of “we’ll assume you earned X,” the taxable return is meant to reflect what an investor actually earned.

But for most liquid financial assets, the architecture is “capital growth” taxation (capturing income and the annual change in value) rather than waiting until a sale.

For Bitcoin, that effectively means paying tax on unrealized gains even if you never sold a Satoshi.

The plan includes mitigations designed to blunt the sharpest edges. Reporting around the reform highlights a €1,800 tax-free annual return threshold and an indefinite loss carryforward, though only losses above €500 are eligible.

Those features help, but they do not eliminate the core behavioral shift: large holders would still need liquidity even in strong Bitcoin years.

Why Bitcoin holders will feel it differently

Under a mark-to-market-like approach, Bitcoin’s most celebrated feature (big, discontinuous upside) is exactly what creates friction.

If Bitcoin rises 60% in a year, the taxable “return” on a €100,000 starting position is €60,000. At 36%, the tax is €21,600.

That is not “36% of your stack,” but it can still translate into selling a noticeable slice of holdings (or borrowing against them) to pay the bill.

The impact of this policy is magnified by the fact that Dutch investors are already deeply integrated into the crypto market, meaning this is not a niche tax on a few hobbyists.

The Netherlands has measurable exposure to crypto via regulated products. The Dutch central bank reported that at the end of October 2025, households held €182 million in crypto ETFs and €213 million in crypto ETNs.

Furthermore, pension funds held €287 million in “crypto treasury shares,” with total indirect crypto securities holdings exceeding €1 billion.

This substantial footprint suggests that a shift to annual taxation could force a migration in how these assets are held.

If compliance becomes annual and valuation-based, broker-held ETP exposure can be easier to administer than self-custody.

This aligns with a global trend noted in Fineqia’s January 2026 report, which put global digital-asset ETP assets under management at $155.8 billion at the end of the month.

These vehicles have shown they can remain “sticky” even as the broader crypto market cap falls, but the new tax regime could test that resilience.

Netherlands' move risks spreading a Bitcoin contagion

The potential for contagion has drawn sharp criticism from industry heavyweights.

Rickey Gevers, a cybersecurity expert, warned that these mechanics are genuinely high-risk to market stability.

According to him:

“The tax on unrealized gains can cause a bank run if investors panic. If everyone starts selling on one specific date to secure cash to pay the tax, the price will crash like crazy. That crash itself can then trigger even more panic, causing even more investors to sell. Everyone sees the value of their portfolio dropping, while at the same time knowing that the amount of tax they have to pay will not go down.”

At the same time, Balaji Srinivasan, Coinbase’s former CTO, argued that the impact of these taxations is not limited to local markets. He presented the idea as a contagion risk, where forced liquidation pressure spills into price formation.

He wrote:

“It’s not just that you don’t want to hold assets as a Dutchman. You also don’t want a Dutchman to hold your assets.”

Srinivasan outlined a hypothetical liquidity spiral to illustrate the risk.

He described a scenario in which an asset has a total market cap of $10,000, with 10 shares held by 10 different Dutch holders, each paying near zero. If the share price hits $1,000 on tax day, each holder faces a 36% tax liability of $360.

The crypto entrepreneur explained:

“The first guy sells his one share, gets $1,000, and pays $360 in tax while retaining $640. But the first guy’s sale reduces the market price to $960 per share. So when the second guy sells, he only retains $600 after paying $360 in tax.”

By the time the seventh holder sells, the price could collapse to $200 per share, a reasonable scenario if 60% of the cap table is dumped.

At that price, the seventh holder must sell their entire position for $200 and still owe $160 in taxes.

He added:

“The 8th, 9th, and 10th guys are even more screwed. By the time they sell, the price will likely have crashed to $100 per share or less. As with the 7th guy, even 100% liquidation will not cover their tax burden.”

Srinivasan, who expressed sympathy for what he termed the “formerly Flying Dutchmen, now Crying Dutchmen,” suggested this dynamic could force investors to block residents of wealth-taxing jurisdictions from cap tables to avoid liquidation contagion.

The exit tax and European contagion

An annualized approach to taxing price moves increases the value of another policy tool, exit taxes.

If taxpayers can reduce future liability by moving before the start of a taxable period, governments often respond by tightening the rules on departure.

In the Netherlands, the exit-tax conversation is no longer abstract. A Dutch government letter following parliamentary debate on taxation of the extremely wealthy explicitly references motions calling for an EU-level exit tax and for developing national exit-tax options.

Separately, the Dutch tax authority notes it may issue a “protective assessment” in certain emigration situations, illustrating that protecting the claim when someone leaves is already a familiar concept in the system.

This is part of a wider European trend. Germany expanded elements of exit taxation to certain investment fund holdings from Jan. 1, 2025, potentially taxing previously unrealized “hidden reserves” when individuals relocate.

France already has an exit tax that applies to qualifying unrealized gains when leaving the country.

Alex Recouso, the founder of CitizenX, argues that this pattern is predictable by noting that:

“It always starts with an unrealized gains tax. Then, an exit tax. Finally, it's global taxation.”

Recouso pointed to France’s proposal in the 2026 National Budget to adopt citizenship-based taxation, under which citizens would pay tax on global income if they move to a region with a tax rate 40% lower than France's.

He also highlighted the UK’s challenges, noting that after a capital gains tax increase, the country lost more than 15,000 high-net-worth individuals in 2025, resulting in a 10% decline in net capital gains tax revenue.

From taxation to confiscation?

The Netherlands’ move lands as EU enforcement capacity is rising.

DAC8 (the EU’s latest update to administrative cooperation) expands automatic exchange of information to crypto-asset transactions, with rules entering into force on Jan. 1, 2026.

This infrastructure makes annualized crypto taxation feasible by ensuring reliable data flows from service providers.

However, critics view these developments as an existential threat to property rights.

Recouso framed the situation as a transition “from taxation to confiscation,” warning that EU countries are raising taxes and blocking exits because they are effectively bankrupt.

“Eventually, they will try to seize your assets,” Recouso said, comparing the situation to the US seizure of gold under Executive Order 6102.

He added:

“The right to exit is a fundamental human right. Just look at the history: all the worst states have revoked the human right to exit.”

In light of this, Recouso advised holding Bitcoin in self-custody and obtaining second passports from friendly jurisdictions like El Salvador, echoing Ray Dalio’s sentiment that “location is as important as your allocation.”

So, if the Netherlands’ 2028 plan becomes law, it will be one of the clearest examples in Europe of Bitcoin moving from a “sell-event tax story” to a “hold-event tax story.”

The post EU crypto reporting goes live and Netherlands immediately votes on 36% Bitcoin tax – even if you don’t sell appeared first on CryptoSlate.

I came across some analysis this morning that cut through the usual stream of charts and market takes with a stark claim: there is “almost no cash on the sidelines.”

If true, it challenges one of the most persistent assumptions in both crypto and traditional markets, that a wall of idle capital is waiting to rotate into risk assets like Bitcoin and equities.

Cash is supposed to be the safety valve, the dry powder that fuels the next leg up after a pullback. When investors believe there is abundant liquidity on the sidelines, dips look like opportunities.

But if sidelined cash is already largely deployed, the implications for market liquidity, Bitcoin’s price trajectory, and broader risk sentiment are far more complex.

So when a chart claims the sidelines are empty, the feeling is simple, markets are over their skis, the next wobble turns into a fall, and regular people get hurt first.

The post by Global Markets Investor points to three places where cash supposedly vanished. Retail portfolios, mutual funds, and professional fund managers. The takeaway is also simple, optimism has eaten the cushion, and the setup looks dangerous.

I wanted to know if the numbers match the mood, because this debate always matters more than the tweet itself. The “sidelines” idea shapes how people behave.

It nudges traders to buy dips because they picture a wave of cash coming later. It nudges cautious investors to stay out because they picture everyone already all in. It even bleeds into crypto, where liquidity stories travel faster than fundamentals.

The truth of the cash story sits in a weird place. The positioning signals do look stretched in spots. Some pockets of the market really are running lean. At the same time, the pile of actual cash in the system has rarely felt more visible, it is just parked in a different parking lot.

And that difference is where the real risk lives.

The retail cash number that sparked the claim

Let’s start with the cleanest data point in the thread, the retail portfolio cash allocation tracked through the AAII survey.

As of January 2026, AAII cash allocation sat at 14.42%. That is well below the long-term average of 22.02% shown on the same series. It also lines up with the vibe you feel in everyday market conversation, people sound less like they are waiting and more like they are participating.

The comparison to the end of the 2022 bear market helps put some shape around the shift. In December 2022, the same AAII cash allocation reading was 21.80%. October 2022 was even higher at 24.70%. The move from the low 20s to the mid-teens is meaningful; it tells you retail portfolios carry less slack than they did when fear was thicker.

The “half” framing in the post runs into a math problem. Today’s 14.42% works out closer to two-thirds of the December 2022 level. The spirit of the point still lands, retail is carrying less cash, and the crowd has less obvious capacity to absorb a sudden shock with fresh buying.

It also helps to say what this measure is, and what it is not. AAII cash allocation reflects how survey respondents describe their portfolio mix, it is sentiment expressed through positioning. It is not a census of bank deposits, and it is not a full map of the financial system’s liquidity. It tells you how exposed people feel, and how much flexibility they think they have left.

That is a human story as much as a market story. Cash levels are a proxy for comfort. When cash shrinks, it often means people feel safe, or feel pressured to keep up, or both.

Mutual funds are running lean on day-to-day liquidity

The post also claimed mutual funds are sitting on razor-thin cash. The best public, standardized way to talk about this is through the Investment Company Institute’s liquidity ratios.

In its December 2025 release, the ICI reported the liquidity ratio of equity funds was 1.4% in December, down from 1.6% in November.

In plain English, equity mutual funds held a very small share of their assets in instruments that could be converted to cash quickly.

That does not automatically mean danger. Mutual funds are built to stay invested, and most of their holdings are liquid stocks. The risk comes from the gap between daily investor behavior and the fund’s ability to meet that behavior without selling into weakness.

If redemptions spike on a volatile week, a fund with thin liquid buffers may have to sell more aggressively, and it may have to sell the easiest things first. That can deepen drawdowns. It can also spread volatility across sectors because funds sell what they can, not what they want.

This matters for the “sidelines” debate because it is a different kind of cash story. It is not about a giant pile of money waiting to buy stocks. It is about how quickly a major part of the market can raise cash when investors demand it. Thin buffers change the shape of shocks.

And in an era where narratives travel instantly, redemption behavior can be contagious. A rough day in tech can turn into a rough week everywhere if enough people decide they want out at the same time.

Cash did not disappear. Cash is pooled in money market funds

Here is the part that makes the “no sidelines” line feel incomplete.

Money market funds have been soaking up cash for years, and the numbers remain enormous. For the week ended February 11, 2026, total money market fund assets were $7.77 trillion, according to the ICI weekly release.

That is a staggering amount of cash sitting in products designed to behave like cash. It also suggests the public still wants safety, still wants yield, still wants optionality. People may be low on cash inside their stock portfolios, and still be sitting on a mountain of cash next door.

This is where the story gets interesting for the months ahead, because money market cash behaves like a coiled spring only when incentives change.

As long as short-term yields stay attractive, cash can sit happily in money markets. If the rate path shifts, and yields come down, some of that cash may start looking for a new home. It might drift into bonds, dividend stocks, credit, and yes, crypto. The pace matters. A slow rotation supports markets quietly. A rushed rotation can fuel bubbles, and then create air pockets later.

There is another plumbing detail worth watching, because it explains where excess cash has been parking in the background.

The Federal Reserve’s overnight reverse repo facility, a place institutions can park cash, has collapsed from its 2022 peak to almost nothing. On February 13, 2026, the daily reading for overnight reverse repos was $0.377 billion, according to FRED. February 11 showed $1.048 billion. In 2022, this facility once held trillions.

That shift does not mean liquidity vanished. It means the cash moved. Some of it moved into Treasury bills. A lot of it moved into money market funds that hold those bills. The sidelines are crowded, they are just crowded in a different stadium.

Professional managers look fully committed, and that is the fragility signal

Retail and mutual funds tell you one kind of story. Professional fund manager cash tells you another, and this is where the warning tone becomes easier to understand.

In December 2025, Bank of America’s Global Fund Manager Survey showed average cash holdings at 3.3%, described as a record low since the survey began in 1999, as reported by the FT.

The translation is simple, professionals felt confident enough to stay invested, and confidence can be a thin kind of protection. When managers carry little cash, they have less flexibility to buy a sudden dip without selling something else. Their first response to stress often becomes reducing exposure, not adding.

That is the fragility. It has less to do with whether “cash exists” and more to do with whether the marginal buyer is willing to act.

Surveys like this also tend to move with the cycle. Cash falls when performance rewards staying invested. Cash rises when the pain of drawdowns forces caution. The interesting question is whether we are late in that cycle, or early, or somewhere in the messy middle.

What happens next depends on rates, and on how fast cash decides to move

It is tempting to treat low cash as a siren, then call the top and walk away. Markets rarely give that clean of a lesson.

Low cash can persist. It can even get lower. It can also make the eventual downdraft sharper when the catalyst arrives.

The better way to think about it is through scenarios.

1. Scenario one is a slow, steady world. Growth holds up enough, inflation behaves enough, rates drift lower enough, and cash rotates gradually out of money markets. In that world, risk assets keep finding support. The absence of big cash buffers still matters, because pullbacks can feel violent in the moment, and then recover quickly. Volatility becomes the tax you pay for staying invested.
2. Scenario two is a sticky rate world. Yields stay attractive, money markets keep pulling assets, and the cash stays parked. Risk markets can still rise, yet they do it with less help from fresh inflows. Momentum becomes more important, and that makes markets sensitive to sudden changes in narrative.
3. Scenario three is the shock world. Growth disappoints, inflation reaccelerates, a policy surprise hits, or a credit event shakes confidence. In that world, thin buffers show up fast. Funds sell to meet redemptions. Managers cut exposure to protect performance. The first leg down can be steep, and it can spread across assets because everyone is trying to do the same thing at the same time.

None of these scenarios require a prediction about “sidelines” as a concept. They require watching the incentives that make cash move.

Why crypto traders should care about this cash debate

Crypto lives and dies by liquidity conditions, even when the narrative of the day sounds like tech adoption or politics or ETF flows. When money is easy and risk appetite is high, crypto tends to feel like it has a tailwind. When liquidity tightens, correlation rises, and the tape can turn ugly fast.

BlackRock put some of that in writing in its own research, noting that bitcoin has historically shown sensitivity to USD real rates, similar to gold and emerging market currencies, in a piece titled “Four factors behind bitcoin’s recent volatility.”

You can also frame Bitcoin as a kind of liquidity mirror. Macro analyst Lyn Alden’s work argues that Bitcoin often reflects global liquidity trends over time, especially when you zoom out beyond the noise, in LynAlden’s research on Bitcoin as a liquidity barometer.

That matters here because the cash story is a liquidity story. If short-term yields fall and trillions begin to rotate, crypto can benefit as part of a broader hunt for return. If the market hits a shock and managers scramble to reduce risk, crypto can get dragged along, even if its internal fundamentals look unchanged that week.

The cash debate also shapes psychology. Traders who believe the sidelines are empty tend to fear sharp crashes. Traders who believe trillions are waiting nearby tend to buy dips faster. These beliefs influence the market itself.

The bottom line, cash is concentrated, positioning is tight, and the next catalyst matters more than the tweet

The claim that there is “almost no cash on the sidelines” is a punchy way to describe a real tension.

Retail cash allocations look low on the YCharts AAII series. Equity mutual funds show thin liquidity buffers in the ICI data. Fund managers reported record low cash in the BofA survey, as covered by the FT.

At the same time, the money sitting in money market funds is huge: $7.77 trillion as of mid-February. The Fed’s reverse repo parking lot has emptied out, with the daily reading down near the floor on FRED, and that tells you cash has been moving through the system, not evaporating.

The human interest angle here is the choice investors keep making. Safety pays again, so cash piles up in cash-like products. Performance pressure still exists, so portfolios stay loaded with risk. That split creates a market that can look calm on the surface and still feel brittle underneath.

The post Bitcoin eyes $7.7T sidelined dollars as Wall Street runs out of cash to “buy the dip” appeared first on CryptoSlate.

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TLDR

• Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, emphasizes that privacy is the most significant unresolved issue in the cryptocurrency industry.
• Zhao argues that Bitcoin and most cryptocurrencies lack adequate privacy features, leaving users vulnerable to tracking.
• CZ highlights that blockchain transactions are traceable, especially with KYC practices on centralized exchanges.
• The Binance founder calls for the development of better privacy infrastructure to enable secure crypto payments while complying with regulations.
• Binance’s history with privacy coins, such as the delisting of Monero, raises concerns about the exchange’s stance on privacy.

Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance, has stressed the importance of privacy in the cryptocurrency sector. He pointed out that most digital assets lack sufficient privacy protections, making users vulnerable in ways traditional currency does not. Speaking on the All-In Podcast, CZ emphasized the need for faster advancements in crypto privacy.

Privacy Concerns for Cryptocurrency Payments

CZ argued that privacy plays a fundamental role in society but is currently inadequate in most cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. “Bitcoin was designed to be pseudo-anonymous,” he explained. “But in reality, every transaction on the blockchain can be traced, especially with KYC on centralized exchanges.” This, he noted, exposes users to risks like unwanted tracking, especially in scenarios such as hotel bookings where third parties might gain access to personal information.

He further elaborated on how payment privacy is a significant hurdle as the cryptocurrency industry moves toward mainstream adoption. With major players like AI agents and institutional investors getting involved, the open ledger design of blockchains like Bitcoin remains a challenge. CZ believes that to achieve widespread use, privacy features must evolve to meet the needs of both businesses and consumers.

Binance and Privacy Coins

Despite CZ’s calls for better privacy features, Binance’s own history with privacy coins has been controversial. In February 2024, Binance delisted Monero (XMR), which at the time was the largest privacy coin. This decision came shortly after CZ stepped down as CEO of Binance, and it led to a 17% drop in Monero’s price. Binance has often cited factors such as trading volume and liquidity in delisting assets, claiming it takes action when a coin no longer meets its standards.

CZ’s comments also raised questions about Binance’s stance on privacy coins like Zcash (ZEC). Last year, Binance included Zcash in a community vote on potential delistings. Zcash’s founder, Zooko Wilcox, raised concerns directly with Binance, highlighting the importance of privacy features in cryptocurrency transactions.

The Need for Widespread Privacy Infrastructure

While privacy coins like Monero and Zcash exist, CZ and industry experts suggest that they are not a complete solution. Nic Puckrin, a digital asset analyst, believes the focus should be on developing broader privacy-preserving infrastructure. Puckrin stressed that the issue isn’t to make payments untraceable but to ensure privacy while staying compliant with regulations. He argued that businesses must adopt these privacy features to enable secure crypto payments.

In the face of these challenges, CZ acknowledged that privacy features are a crucial aspect for crypto’s future. Although law enforcement may seek transparency for security reasons, CZ is confident that privacy can be enhanced without undermining efforts to track bad actors.

The post Binance Founder CZ Urges Faster Evolution of Privacy Features in Crypto appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Mike McGlone warns that Bitcoin could drop to $10,000 due to rising recession risks in the U.S.
• The long-standing “buy the dip” mentality may no longer support risk assets, including cryptocurrencies.
• McGlone highlights Bitcoin’s volatility and predicts a potential reversion to $56,000 before a possible $10,000 decline.
• Broader market instability, including low volatility in major stock indices, contributes to the ongoing crypto price decline.
• Jason Fernandes disagrees with McGlone’s forecast, suggesting a $40,000 to $50,000 price range instead of a collapse to $10,000.

Bloomberg Intelligence’s Mike McGlone has raised concerns about the future of Bitcoin. In a recent analysis, he suggested that the ongoing decline in cryptocurrency prices could signal broader financial stress. McGlone also warned that Bitcoin could revert to as low as $10,000, especially if a U.S. recession becomes more likely.

The analyst observed that the market’s traditional “buy the dip” mentality, which has supported risk assets since 2008, may be losing its strength. McGlone pointed out that the worsening situation in the cryptocurrency market is contributing to broader market volatility. He highlighted several macro indicators suggesting heightened risk conditions in global financial markets.

Bitcoin Price Faces Potential Decline to $10,000

McGlone’s analysis specifically mentions Bitcoin’s vulnerability in the current financial environment. He noted that Bitcoin, which recently fluctuated around $68,800, could continue to struggle. According to McGlone, the cryptocurrency’s decline reflects a broader market breakdown, suggesting that the “buy the dip” mindset may no longer be effective.

He further explained that Bitcoin could fall back toward $10,000 if stock markets continue to weaken. McGlone’s chart comparing Bitcoin to the S&P 500 highlighted how both assets were underperforming. He pointed out that Bitcoin’s volatile nature means it is unlikely to remain above current levels if equity markets experience further instability.

In his analysis, McGlone identified a potential reversion level of $56,000 for Bitcoin. This value corresponds to the 5,600 mark for the S&P 500, adjusted for Bitcoin’s volatility. Beyond this, McGlone predicts that the cryptocurrency could fall further, potentially reaching the $10,000 threshold.

Broader Market Volatility Contributes to Crypto Price Decline

McGlone attributes the ongoing volatility in the cryptocurrency market to broader financial instability. The U.S. stock market’s capitalization relative to GDP is at a century-high, signaling potential bubbles. He noted that the low volatility observed in major stock indices like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 could be masking underlying risks.

Furthermore, McGlone emphasized the “imploding” crypto bubble and the role of factors like “Trump euphoria” in amplifying market stress. While gold and silver are seeing a resurgence, McGlone believes their rise could eventually spill over into equities. He noted that rising market volatility might further challenge asset prices across the board, including cryptocurrencies.

Contrasting Views on Bitcoin’s Future

While McGlone’s thesis on Bitcoin’s potential fall to $10,000 has drawn attention, it has also faced criticism. Jason Fernandes, co-founder of AdLunam, disagreed with McGlone’s view. Fernandes argued that market excesses can resolve through mechanisms like time, rotation, or inflation erosion, rather than necessarily collapsing.

According to Fernandes, Bitcoin’s price could instead stabilize between $40,000 and $50,000 in response to a macro slowdown. He pointed out that a crash to $10,000 would require more severe conditions, including liquidity contraction and financial stress. Fernandes believes that a true recession, marked by global liquidity drainage, would be needed for such a dramatic decline.

However, McGlone’s analysis continues to gain attention, as it reflects rising concerns over both the cryptocurrency and broader market conditions. His forecast suggests that Bitcoin, along with other risk assets, remains highly susceptible to a changing macroeconomic environment.

The post Mike McGlone Forecasts Bitcoin Price Could Fall to $10,000 Amid Economic Concerns appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• The total value of tokenized real-world assets increased by 13.5% over the past 30 days.
• Ethereum led the growth in tokenized assets, with a $1.7 billion rise in value.
• Tokenized US Treasuries and government debt remain the largest category in the market.
• Institutional participation is growing, with major players like BlackRock and JPMorgan entering the space.
• Tokenized money market funds are evolving, now serving as collateral in trading and lending markets.

Tokenized real-world assets (RWAs) have seen consistent growth, with the total value of onchain RWAs rising 13.5% over the past month. Despite the broader cryptocurrency market shedding $1 trillion in value, the tokenized asset sector continues to show resilience. The demand for tokenized RWAs, especially among institutional investors, reflects a growing interest in utilizing blockchain for traditional financial products.

Ethereum Leads Growth in Tokenized Assets

Ethereum recorded the highest growth in tokenized asset value, with an increase of $1.7 billion. Other blockchain networks, such as Arbitrum and Solana, followed closely, showing $880 million and $530 million in growth, respectively. The surge in value across these networks reflects the broader adoption of blockchain-based tokenized products.

The rise in Ethereum’s dominance highlights the growing role of the blockchain in asset tokenization. As the blockchain’s infrastructure strengthens, more institutions are entering the space, increasing demand for tokenized products. The growth in tokenized asset issuance has also contributed to the overall market rise.

Tokenized US Treasuries and government debt continue to dominate the tokenized asset space, accounting for over $10 billion in onchain products. These assets have seen continuous inflows, which further support their dominant position. As demand grows, more tokenized government securities are being issued on public blockchains.

The expansion of tokenized government debt demonstrates the increasing appeal of blockchain for settling traditional financial assets. Large institutions such as BlackRock, JPMorgan, and Goldman Sachs have shown active participation in this growing market. Their involvement indicates that tokenized government products are becoming a key focus of institutional investment.

Institutional Participation Drives Tokenized Asset Growth

The demand for tokenized assets points to deeper institutional participation in the space. Asset managers are increasingly issuing and settling tokenized versions of traditional financial products. Tokenized money market funds, which were once seen as yield vehicles, are now serving as collateral in trading and lending markets.

BlackRock’s move into decentralized finance with the launch of its tokenized US Treasury fund is one of the latest examples of institutional involvement. This shows a shift in how traditional financial institutions are engaging with blockchain technology.

The post Tokenized Real-World Assets See 13.5% Growth Amid Crypto Market Slump appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Nexo is relaunching its crypto services in the United States after more than three years of absence.
• The platform will offer yield programs, a spot exchange, and crypto-backed credit lines to US users.
• Nexo has partnered with Bakkt to provide the trading infrastructure for its US operations.
• The company’s return is driven by improved regulatory clarity for digital assets in the US.
• Nexo’s new US operations will be based in Florida and run by an announced management team.

Crypto platform Nexo is set to return to the United States after more than three years. The company paused its operations in 2022 due to regulatory concerns. Now, with clearer guidelines in place, Nexo aims to offer crypto services including yield programs, a spot exchange, and more.

Nexo Partners with Bakkt for Trading Infrastructure

Nexo’s trading infrastructure will be powered by Bakkt, a US-based digital asset platform. Bakkt primarily serves institutional clients but will help Nexo build its new US offering. Eleonor Genova, Nexo’s head of communications, confirmed that the platform will provide both flexible and fixed-term yield programs.

The platform will also feature crypto-backed credit lines and a loyalty program for US customers. Nexo’s management team will operate the new venture from Florida, with plans to announce the team soon. Genova emphasized that all services will be offered through partnerships with licensed US providers.

After leaving the US market in late 2022, Nexo now sees improved regulatory clarity for digital assets in the country. The company originally withdrew due to what it called an unfriendly regulatory environment under former SEC chair Gary Gensler. Nexo’s “Crypto Earn” program, which lets users earn interest on their crypto holdings, was a key issue in the company’s exit.

Nexo settled with the SEC in 2023, agreeing to pay $45 million for failing to register its interest-bearing program. The company later shut down the program for US users, marking the end of its earlier US operations. Despite these setbacks, Nexo now believes the regulatory landscape is more favorable for blockchain businesses.

Nexo’s Relaunch and US Crypto Regulatory Landscape

Nexo’s return comes as the US continues to work on crypto regulations. The House recently passed the CLARITY Act, but the Senate has yet to move it forward. Patrick Witt, a White House crypto advisor, called for compromises to pass crypto-related legislation before the 2024 elections.

This renewed effort to regulate crypto coincides with Nexo’s own regulatory framework. Genova stated that the new US operations are compliant with US securities laws. The company hopes to provide a stable platform for crypto users amid ongoing regulatory discussions.

Nexo’s rebooted platform will rely on third-party advisory services registered with the SEC. This ensures that the services offered are in line with applicable securities laws. The crypto exchange aims to establish itself as a trusted platform for US users after its previous exit.

The post Nexo Partners with Bakkt for US Crypto Exchange and Yield Programs appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Anthropic has doubled its revenue run rate in India in just four months.
• Developer adoption of Anthropic’s Claude Code has been a key driver of growth in India.
• The company has opened an office in Bengaluru to support its expanding operations.
• Anthropic has formed strategic partnerships to expand its AI solutions in the public sector.
• Air India is using Claude Code to improve software development and reduce costs.

AI startup Anthropic has seen rapid revenue growth in India, with its AI tools gaining traction across various sectors. The company’s revenue run rate has doubled in just four months, driven by high demand from developers and early government deployments. Anthropic has also expanded its presence in the country by opening an office in Bengaluru.

Strong Developer Adoption in India Drives Revenue Growth

Anthropic’s revenue growth in India is largely due to high adoption rates among developers. The company’s Claude Code has seen increased use in India, a country known for its large pool of tech talent. Developers are leveraging the tool to enhance productivity and speed up software development processes. According to Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, India’s developer-centric culture has accelerated the company’s growth. Amodei noted, “Since my last trip here, the company has doubled its run rate revenue in India.”

The speed at which developers are adopting AI tools in India is a key factor in Anthropic’s success. Unlike other countries where casual consumers also use AI, India’s AI adoption is concentrated in the professional sector. This intense use by developers reflects the country’s focus on productivity and rapid experimentation. In India, AI adoption is characterized by a culture of quickly testing new ideas and moving forward with adjustments if necessary.

Anthropic Expands Partnerships to Support Public Sector Growth

In addition to its success in the developer market, Anthropic has formed several strategic partnerships in India. These partnerships will help expand its AI solutions into the public sector, including education, healthcare, and judicial services. The company’s India team will also provide applied AI expertise to startups and enterprises, assisting them in building and scaling AI-driven solutions.

One of the key enterprise clients, Air India, has adopted Claude Code to improve its software development speed. By integrating AI into its operations, the airline aims to reduce costs and increase efficiency. This collaboration reflects the growing interest in AI-powered tools across industries, as businesses recognize their potential to drive productivity improvements.

Government agencies in India have also shown interest in using AI technology, further accelerating Anthropic’s growth in the country. The Ministry of Statistics, for example, is working on an AI-powered server for economic data and statistics. Anthropic’s CEO highlighted that such efforts are progressing much faster than similar projects in other countries. He credited India’s entrepreneurial spirit and technical expertise for the rapid pace of adoption.

The post Anthropic Expands Its AI Business in India with Strong Enterprise Uptake appeared first on Blockonomi.

A United States federal judge has ordered crypto influencer Ben Armstrong, previously known as “BitBoy,” to pay $2.8 million after he failed to defend himself in a defamation lawsuit brought by investor and television personality Kevin O’Leary.

According to court documents, US District Judge Beth Bloom of the Southern District of Florida entered the default judgment on Thursday, while citing Armstrong’s lack of any response during the proceedings. The damages award includes roughly $78,000 for reputational harm, $750,000 for emotional distress, and $2 million in punitive damages.

Background of the Case

The case stems from a series of posts Armstrong published on X in late March 2025, in which he accused O’Leary and his wife of murder and alleged they paid millions of dollars to cover up their involvement in a fatal 2019 boating collision in Ontario.

Two people were killed when one boat struck another on a lake, but O’Leary was only a passenger and was never charged. His wife, Linda O’Leary, on the other hand, was later acquitted of careless operation of a vessel following a 13-day trial. Armstrong publicly disclosed O’Leary’s private phone number and urged followers to contact him as a “real-life murderer.” These posts prompted a temporary suspension from the platform.

In January 2026, Armstrong moved to overturn the default judgment. He said incarceration and mental health problems prevented his involvement, while sealed filings referenced a bipolar disorder diagnosis. The court rejected the request and noted that Armstrong had been properly served and waited nearly a year before taking action.

Legal Woes

The ruling further expands the list of legal troubles facing Armstrong, who has faced repeated arrests since 2023. He was taken into custody in March 2025 on a fugitive warrant tied to alleged threats sent to a Georgia judge and was arrested again in June 2025 on multiple counts of harassing phone calls.

Armstrong was removed from the BitBoy Crypto brand in August 2023 after its parent company cited substance abuse concerns, which ended his run as one of the most visible figures in crypto media.

His career was repeatedly overshadowed by controversy, including admissions of paid promotions for failed or fraudulent projects and a high-profile legal dispute with YouTuber Atozy that he ultimately abandoned after a backlash from the crypto community.

The post Court Slams BitBoy With Punitive Damages Over Viral Accusations Against Kevin O’Leary appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin (BTC) has slipped back to price levels last seen in October 2024, the exact moment when whales began their most recent accumulation phase.

On-chain data now shows these large holders are continuing to buy, not exit, suggesting the current downturn may be viewed as a re-entry opportunity rather than a reason to flee.

Whales Accumulate as Retail Fears Grow

According to pseudonymous market watcher CW8900, there has been a steady accumulation among large BTC and Ethereum (ETH) holders. They wrote that Bitcoin’s current price matches the zone where whales started buying in October 2024, and they claim accumulation has increased rather than slowed.

“Despite the decline in $BTC, accumulation continues. In fact, it’s increasing,” CW8900 said.

In a separate post, the analyst noted that Ethereum whales now hold positions at losses comparable to earlier cycle lows, which they described as a pattern seen near bottoms.

The expert wrote regarding the giant ETH holders,

“Their target is the upcoming rally. They are still accumulating massive amounts in preparation for a bull market.”

Market data supports the context behind those claims, with numbers from CoinGecko showing BTC changing hands near $69,000 after moving between $68,000 and $71,000 in the past day. The asset is down about 2% this week, 10% over two weeks, and nearly 28% in a month.

On its part, ETH is showing deeper losses. At the time of writing, the token was trading at just under $2,000 after falling about 40% in a month and 13% in two weeks.

Despite the prevailing conditions, Fundstrat’s Tom Lee believes ETH will rebound fully. He pointed to eight separate drawdowns exceeding 50% that the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency has faced since 2018, including a 64% drop earlier last year. In every case, the asset formed a V-shaped bottom and recovered completely.

However, not all large positions have survived. Trend Research, once Asia’s largest ETH long, closed its final position last week after accumulating $2.1 billion in leveraged longs. According to Arkham, the exit resulted in an $869 million realized loss and came even after founder Jack Yi had predicted ETH would reach $10,000 just days before.

Diverging Signals

Not all indicators are leaning bullish, as revealed by analyst Wise Crypto, who said Bitcoin’s recent 9% rebound between February 12 and February 15 may be a trap. The market technician pointed to hidden bearish divergence on 12-hour charts and a 90% surge in NUPL, which indicated a higher sell risk, with key support levels sitting at $65,000 to $66,000, and $60,000 as the major psychological floor.

To add context to that caution, a recent poll run by chartist Ali Martinez found that only 22.7% of respondents believed $60,000 was the cycle low, while the largest share expected prices to fall toward $38,000.

Interestingly, market intelligence provider Santiment has noted that BTC typically moves opposite crowd expectations, suggesting a potential rally if fear continues to dominate sentiment.

The post Bitcoin Whales Accumulate as BTC Price Revisits 2024 Entry Zone appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin bears have been in control lately, with the asset trading well below last year’s peak levels.

The question now is whether BTC can stage a decisive comeback or if a new painful pullback is on the way.

The Bullish Scenario

The primary cryptocurrency started the month on the wrong foot, with the correction intensifying on February 6 when it plummeted to around $60K, the lowest point since October 2024. In the following days, it reclaimed some lost ground and currently trades at approximately $68,200 (per CoinGecko’s data).

One person touching upon the most recent price dynamics of BTC is the popular analyst Ali Martinez. He assumed that the asset appears to have formed an “Adam & Eve” pattern, in which a break above $71,500 could trigger an additional pump to $79,000.

The bullish setup consists of two bottoms: a sharp drop (Adam) followed by a rounder one (Eve). Some traders see it as a sign that selling pressure is fading and that the price may post a substantial short-term revival.

Bitcoin’s Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) supports the bullish outlook. The index compares the current value of all BTC to the price people initially paid to acquire their holdings. High ratios mean that investors are sitting on big profits and could increase selling pressure, whereas low readings might be interpreted as the end of the bear market.

Over the past few weeks, the MVRV has been steadily declining and now sits near 1.25. According to CryptoQuant, ratios above 3.7 indicate a price top, while values under 1 hint that the bottom could have been reached.

Bitcoin’s Relative Strength Index (RSI) is also worth observing. The technical analysis tool measures the speed and magnitude of recent price changes and provides traders with indications of potential reversal points. It ranges from 0 to 100, with values below 30 seen as buying opportunities and suggesting that BTC may be oversold. On the contrary, ratios above 70 are generally considered a warning of a possible pullback. The RSI has fallen to 28 on a weekly scale.

The Bear Phase Is Just Starting?

Other analysts, including Chiefy, believe another painful decline is the more likely option for BTC in the short term. The X user argued that the asset might be on the verge of a major dump to $29,000 as early as this week and added:

“The final Bull Trap of 2026 is over, and according to this chart, the next crash has already started. Are you actually prepared for the longest bear market in history?”

Meanwhile, BTC balances on centralized exchanges have been climbing in recent weeks. Although this development doesn’t guarantee further downside, it could be interpreted as a bearish sign because it means the number of coins that can be offloaded at any time is increasing.

The post Top Bitcoin (BTC) Price Predictions: Revival to $80K or Brutal Crash Below $30K? appeared first on CryptoPotato.

[PRESS RELEASE – New York, USA, February 16th, 2026]

Rain, fresh off $250M Series C, deploys unified detection-to-response framework to further protect stablecoin payments

Guardrail, a real-time blockchain security platform backed by Coinbase Ventures and Haun Ventures, has launched an integrated security model that connects continuous runtime detection directly to managed incident response. The model addresses the attack cycle at the crucial step between vulnerability exposure and live attacks.

Rain, the global stablecoin payments platform for enterprises, neobanks, and platforms, recently deployed this unified security framework within its smart contracts and wallets used for settlement with Visa, further improving security for millions of purchases in over 150 countries.

Stablecoin transaction volumes crossed $27.6 trillion in 2024, surpassing Visa and Mastercard combined. As traditional finance accelerates its move onchain, the security challenges and unique risks it poses are widening the gap.

The blockchain industry lost over $3.4 billion to theft in 2025. More than 90% of exploits targeted code where security audits and a comprehensive review were completed. The pattern is consistent: audits examine code during development, but attacks take place in production environments through compromised keys, operational failures, and runtime exploits that static code review cannot anticipate and prevent.

Why Post-Deployment Security Matters for Stablecoins

Stablecoin infrastructure operates differently from typical DeFi protocols. When software events translate directly into payment outcomes across 150+ countries, a configuration error or a malicious transaction pattern can cause immediate user harm, with limited options for reversal.

Each application of stablecoin technology by geography, financial application, underlying assets, and wallet infrastructure brings incredible potential while simultaneously growing security risk possibility for unique attack vectors. Industry data shows that off-chain incidents compromised keys, phishing, and operational failures now represent the majority of funds lost, underscoring the need for security extending the attacking surface to: onchain activity, offchain integrations, API dependencies, and user-facing entry points.

“As Web3 matures, risk management and proactive security measures that leading institutions have built into traditional products need to be offered when transacting with stablecoins, like their fiat counterparts. Unifying risk discovery, real-time detection and managed automated response is the gold standard we’re excited to be shaping for our industry,” said Samridh Saluja, CEO of Guardrail.

How the Framework Operates

Guardrail’s platform evaluates transactions and state changes in real time using configurable detection modules. These identify conditions beyond standard vulnerability signatures, economic anomalies, permission violations, oracle deviations, and abnormal approval patterns with sub-second detection across 30+ chains.

When an incident is flagged, alerts route directly into managed response workflows developed in collaboration with Cantina, a Web3 security firm. Response operates through 24/7 triage, pre-built playbooks across technical and governance tracks, and escalation paths with defined ownership. Evidence is captured throughout proactively, resulting in an informed security posture.

Institutional-Grade Security for Onchain Finance

As stablecoins move into enterprise payments and institutional custody, security expectations shift. Partners evaluating onchain infrastructure ask direct questions: Who owns containment? How is authority structured? What evidence trail exists? How does the system perform at 3am on a Saturday?

Rain’s security model with Guardrail and Cantina answers these questions universally. Runtime signals feed governed incident workflows. Escalations route to named owners. Containment follows documented playbooks. Evidence trails support both internal review and partner diligence.

“Our enterprise partners rely on Rain to protect real-world payment flows totaling billions of dollars annually. Integrating Guardrail’s real-time monitoring and Cantina’s managed response capabilities enhances our ability to detect anomalies early and act decisively,” said Charles Yoo-Naut, CTO and Co-founder of Rain. “This is an important addition to the broader set of onchain security partners we rely on to safeguard our ecosystem.”

The integrated detection and response model is a template for protocols operating stablecoin infrastructure, custody flows, enterprise payments, and onchain financial products.

About Guardrail

Guardrail is a real-time blockchain security platform with sub-second detection across 24+ chains. Backed by Coinbase Ventures and Haun Ventures, the platform uses AI-powered anomaly detection and configurable security modules to identify exploits before funds are drained, with automated response capabilities including contract pausing and circuit breakers. Guardrail currently protects over $20+ billion in TVL across thousands of contracts for protocols including Euler, EigenLayer, BadgerDAO, and Bluefin.

Website: https://www.guardrail.ai

The post Guardrail Launches Proactive Security Model for Stablecoins appeared first on CryptoPotato.

More online businesses are integrating cryptocurrency into their payment systems. This trend is especially noticeable among companies serving customers in multiple regions. For them, it’s a useful addition to their existing payment methods.

To take crypto payments, a business needs a solid payment gateway to process them smoothly. This guide explains how to begin clearly and avoid mistakes.

Why Are Businesses Starting to Accept Crypto Payments?

Accepting crypto for payments makes many traditional problems easier to handle. Payments go through faster, you don’t have to wait long for settlements, and sending money abroad is simpler with fewer middlemen. This proves highly useful for online businesses and organizations that work with international clients.

Meanwhile, people are moving away from old payment methods. Many who already have digital assets prefer to pay with them rather than convert first. This way, crypto payments are not meant to replace existing options but to expand the choices available.

How to Pick a Crypto Payment Gateway?

What makes crypto payments so convenient is that the gateway does most of the work. Merchants don’t have to be experts since it takes care of processing, monitoring, and keeping records.

A reliable gateway often includes:

• Support for multiple coins and networks.
• Clear and transparent fees.
• Flexible integration options.
• Invoice management with accurate payment tracking.
• Automation tools to minimize manual work.
• Strong security.

How customers feel matters just as much as the payment itself. Simple steps, support in multiple languages, and a consistent brand make users feel secure and more likely to complete their payment. Platforms like Cryptomus bring all of this together, making crypto payments easier to handle.

How to Start Accepting Crypto Payments?

Cryptomus is a versatile platform designed for both businesses and personal use. It features a reliable cryptocurrency payment gateway built for everyday operations. It supports over 120 coins and is suitable for companies of all sizes, from major ones to small online services like VPNs or hosting providers.

Fees are really low, starting at just 0.4%, and withdrawals are completely free. Merchants can also transfer the payment commission to the buyer when creating an invoice, effectively reducing direct costs.

To begin, first create a merchant account and choose one of these integration options:

• API integration with documentation and keys.
• SDK tools with instructions and code samples.
• Plugins for e-commerce platforms.

After that, just choose which cryptocurrencies you want to accept, set up automatic conversion, and customize a payment page with your branding. From the dashboard, you can track all incoming payments. Withdrawals usually take 1–2 minutes and can be done manually or automatically. You can also schedule auto-withdrawals based on time, currency, or network. Fiat withdrawals are available via SEPA, SWIFT, and P2P exchanges.

Another point to keep in mind is security. Cryptomus offers two-factor authentication, PIN codes, and IP whitelisting, and its safety has been independently verified by Certik. Customer support is available 24/7 in several languages through Telegram, email, website chat, or a personal manager.

Why Should Your Business Accept Crypto?

Accepting cryptocurrency can give your business a competitive advantage. It shortens settlement times, makes cross-border payments easier, and provides clients with a payment option they may already use.

Cryptomus simplifies crypto integration, making it safe and easy even for those without technical expertise. You can accept various coins, track payments, and handle withdrawals easily.

Crypto doesn’t need to replace your usual payment methods. It works alongside them, giving your business more flexibility and helping you keep up with evolving customer demands.

Disclaimer: The above article is sponsored content; it’s written by a third party. CryptoPotato doesn’t endorse or assume responsibility for the content, advertising, products, quality, accuracy, or other materials on this page. Nothing in it should be construed as financial advice. Readers are strongly advised to verify the information independently and carefully before engaging with any company or project mentioned and to do their own research. Investing in cryptocurrencies carries a risk of capital loss, and readers are also advised to consult a professional before making any decisions that may or may not be based on the above-sponsored content.

Readers are also advised to read CryptoPotato’s full disclaimer.

The post How to Accept Cryptocurrency Payments via Cryptomus? appeared first on CryptoPotato.