UBS's exploration of crypto access for clients may accelerate digital finance adoption, influencing global banking strategies and competition.

The post UBS considers crypto offerings and tokenized deposit products for clients appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Binance's Bitcoin conversion for SAFU may enhance user trust and market stability, reflecting a strategic shift towards decentralized assets.

The post Binance completes second batch of Bitcoin conversion, acquires $100M in BTC appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Tether's reduced fundraising highlights investor skepticism, potentially impacting its market perception and future financial strategies.

The post Tether scales back $20B fundraising bid amid valuation concerns: Report appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Internal discord among Bitcoin developers poses a greater risk than quantum computing, potentially impacting future upgrades and stability.

The post Bitcoin’s biggest risk is governance, not quantum computing, says Galaxy CEO appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Yearn Finance highlights the urgent need for better risk management as DeFi faces growing challenges.

The post Corn: DeFi faces critical customer support challenges, Yearn’s foresight on UST highlights governance risks, and the market is set for recovery in late 2023 | On The Brink with Castle Island appeared first on Crypto Briefing.

Bitcoin Magazine

Strategy ($MSTR) Plummets 8% As Bitcoin Hits One‑Year Lows

Shares of Strategy plunged today, dipping more than 8% in trading as Bitcoin traded at new one-year lows and crypto risk assets came under renewed pressure. 

The decline pushed MSTR’s share price to levels not seen since late 2024, deepening a multi‑month downtrend that has left the stock among the worst performers on the Nasdaq this year.

Bitcoin’s slump — dipping below key technical thresholds over the weekend and early week — has reverberated through markets, hitting crypto‑linked equities especially hard. 

Shares of major crypto platforms, like Robinhood and Circle also lost ground, highlighting the increasing correlation between Bitcoin prices and related stocks.

With over 713,000 Bitcoins on its balance sheet, purchased at an average cost near $76,000 per coin, Strategy is grappling with unrealized losses after Bitcoin’s recent slide below that level.

Despite price dips, Chairman Michael Saylor has made it clear that Strategy won’t be selling its Bitcoin — and in fact is doubling down on purchases even as the market dips, signaling his intent to keep accumulating more.

In his messaging, he’s basically said he’s comfortable with holding and adding even on weakness, not cashing out when prices fall. 

Strategy bought more bitcoin last week

Earlier this week, Strategy said it purchased 855 bitcoin for about $75.3 million, paying an average price of $87,974 per BTC, according to a Monday filing. 

The acquisition came just days before bitcoin fell below $75,000 over the weekend on some rapid selling, briefly pushing Strategy’s treasury close to $1 billion in unrealized losses.

Now, the price of bitcoin is below those levels near $74,000.

The company now holds 713,502 BTC, acquired for roughly $54.26 billion at an average cost of $76,052 per coin. 

Last week’s purchase was fully funded through the sale of common stock, following Strategy’s ongoing capital-raising approach to finance bitcoin buys. The purchase of 855 bitcoin was significantly smaller compared to prior company purchases.

At the time of writing, bitcoin’s price dropped below $74,000 today, its lowest level in a year. The bitcoin price has now retraced more than 40% from its all‑time highs reached in late 2025. 

Prior to today, the one-year low for the bitcoin price was $74,747. Strategy shares started the day at $139.66, but are currently trading at $128.87. The shares 52-week high was around $450 per share.

This post Strategy ($MSTR) Plummets 8% As Bitcoin Hits One‑Year Lows first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin Price Plunges 40% From All-Time Highs to One-Year Lows

Bitcoin’s price dropped below $75,000 today, its lowest level in nearly a year, as global crypto markets endured a sustained wave of selling triggered by broader financial stresses and shifting investor appetite. 

The bitcoin price has now retraced more than 40% from its all‑time highs reached in late 2025. According to Bitcoin Magazine Pro data, the one-year low for the bitcoin price is $74,747. Bitcoin is dancing near that number.

Recent trading data showed Bitcoin price slipping through key technical support levels, driving forced liquidations across derivatives markets and intensifying downside price pressure. Over roughly the past 24 hours, around $2.56 billion in Bitcoin positions were liquidated, according to market data. 

This follows weeks of risk‑off sentiment across global asset classes.

The downturn in cryptocurrencies has coincided with stress in other markets like precious metals, tech sell-offs, and losses in equities. 

Institutional players report losses as policy signals remain dubious 

The market slide has had tangible impacts on key industry participants. Galaxy Digital, a major crypto investment firm led by Michael Novogratz, reported a $482 million loss for the fourth quarter of 2025, earlier today. 

The firm attributed this to the decline in digital asset prices and a sharp drop in trading volumes, which fell more than 40% from the prior quarter. Galaxy’s stock traded lower following the earnings release, reflecting investor concern about the broader bitcoin price and crypto downturn.

Also, Bitcoin price currently trades below $76,000, which is roughly the average price at which Strategy acquired a portion of its BTC holdings and well below the cost of many of its accumulated coins. 

Since Strategy owns hundreds of thousands of bitcoins at higher average purchase prices, the current market value is less than what was paid for much of its inventory, leaving a significant portion of its holdings “underwater.”

Market participants have also pointed to U.S. monetary policy developments as a significant driver of the sell‑off. 

The recent nomination of Kevin Warsh as chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve by President Donald Trump has prompted forecasts of tighter monetary conditions. 

A strengthening U.S. dollar in response to monetary policy shifts has also weighed on Bitcoin. A firmer dollar typically makes non‑yielding assets like Bitcoin less attractive, reducing inflows from investors seeking currency‑neutral hedges. Analysts noted that the dollar’s recent performance provided technical headwinds that amplified the crypto market’s decline.

The Trump administration has continued to engage with industry leaders on digital asset policy, including efforts to advance regulatory clarity through legislation such as the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act. 

This dialogue has really slowed down over the last couple of months, it has not yet translated into stabilizing price action amid current conditions.

Bitcoin price in genuine ‘crypto winter’

Despite this, Bitwise CIO Matt Hougan said in a recent memo that the crypto market has been in a genuine “crypto winter” since early 2025, rather than experiencing a short-lived correction. 

Hougan highlighted that bearish sentiment remains strong, as evidenced by the Crypto Fear and Greed Index, which shows near all-time fear levels despite positive developments like the appointment of a bitcoin-friendly Fed chair.

Hougan noted that institutional flows helped mask the severity of the downturn. U.S. spot bitcoin ETFs and digital asset treasury vehicles purchased over 744,000 BTC during this period—roughly $75 billion in demand — cushioning bitcoin price’s drawdown, which he estimated could have reached nearly 60% without this support. 

He compared the current environment to previous downturns in 2018 and 2022, where markets remained depressed despite incremental positive news.

Looking ahead, Hougan suggested that crypto winters often end not with exuberance but with exhaustion. In his words, “It’s always darkest before the dawn.”

Bitcoin price is currently at $74,800, with a 24-hour trading volume of 55 B. BTC is -5% in the last 24 hours. It is currently -5% from its 7-day all-time high of $78,994.

This post Bitcoin Price Plunges 40% From All-Time Highs to One-Year Lows first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Bitcoin-Treasury The Smarter Web Company Listed on London Stock Exchange

The Smarter Web Company began trading on the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange today, marking a major milestone for the UK-based firm as it continues to position itself as Britain’s largest publicly listed bitcoin holder.

The company’s shares debuted under the ticker SWC at 43p. The uplisting follows the company’s initial public offering on the Aquis Exchange in April 2025, where it went on to become the UK’s best-performing equity that year.

Founded in 2009 by chief executive Andrew Webley, The Smarter Web Company began as a web design agency focused on building bespoke, mobile-friendly websites for small and medium-sized businesses. 

In 2025, the firm pivoted toward a bitcoin treasury strategy, deploying capital into bitcoin as what it describes as “digital capital” on its balance sheet.

Today, The Smarter Web Company holds 2,674 bitcoin, making it the largest UK public company by bitcoin holdings and the 29th largest globally among public firms. 

According to The Smarter Web Company, roughly £221 million of investor capital has been used to acquire bitcoin at an average price of just over $111,000 per coin.

Bitcoin was trading near $77,000 on Tuesday, down significantly from its peak above $120,000 last year.

Speaking at the London Stock Exchange opening ceremony, Webley said the Main Market listing represents the next stage in building a long-term British public company aligned with Bitcoin. “Moving to the Main Market of the London Stock Exchange marks the next significant milestone in that journey,” Webley said. “I am committed to building a British success story that contributes to the UK economy and demonstrates how bitcoin can be used as digital capital.”

Webley also reiterated his ambition for the company to enter the FTSE 250, potentially as early as the third quarterly rebalance of 2026, with longer-term aspirations to eventually reach the FTSE 100.

The United Kingdom’s version of Strategy 

The Smarter Web Company’s strategy has drawn comparisons to U.S.-based firm Strategy, which pioneered the corporate bitcoin treasury model. 

While a growing number of companies have since adopted similar approaches, Webley has argued that volatility is an inherent feature of the strategy rather than a flaw. 

Despite its recent decline from a peak market capitalization of over £1 billion, Webley recently said the company plans to continue accumulating bitcoin regardless of price. The firm spent about £220 million accumulating their bitcoin, while its shares have plunged about 95%. 

Webley argues the strategy is long-term, noting the company has increased its bitcoin holdings per share despite the downturn and plans to seek more institutional funding with a move to the London Stock Exchange’s main market.

This post Bitcoin-Treasury The Smarter Web Company Listed on London Stock Exchange first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

Tether Launches Open-Source Bitcoin Mining Operating System

Tether has open-sourced a new operating system for bitcoin mining, unveiling MiningOS (MOS) as part of a broader push to reduce the industry’s reliance on proprietary, vendor-controlled software.

The stablecoin issuer announced Monday that MOS, a modular and scalable operating system designed to manage, monitor, and automate bitcoin mining operations, is now available as open-source software under the Apache 2.0 license. 

The system was officially unveiled at the 2026 Plan ₿ Forum in San Salvador.

According to Tether, MOS is built to coordinate the complex mix of hardware, power systems, containers, and physical infrastructure that underpin modern bitcoin mining. 

Rather than relying on fragmented software stacks, the operating system treats every component of a mining site as a controllable “worker” within a single operational layer, providing operators with unified visibility across hashrate, energy usage, device health, and site-level infrastructure.

The company said MOS uses a self-hosted, peer-to-peer architecture based on Holepunch protocols, allowing miners to manage operations without relying on centralized services or third-party platforms. 

The system is designed to scale from small home installations running on lightweight hardware to industrial-grade deployments managing hundreds of thousands of machines across multiple locations.

“Mining OS is built to make Bitcoin mining infrastructure more open, modular, and accessible,” said Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino. “Whether it’s a small operator running a handful of machines or a full-scale industrial site, the same operating system can scale without reliance on centralized, third-party software.”

Tether’s Mining SDK announcement

Alongside MOS, Tether also announced the Mining SDK, the framework on which the operating system is built. The Mining SDK is expected to be finalized and released in collaboration with the open-source community in the coming months.

The toolkit is designed to allow developers to build mining software and internal tools without recreating device integrations or operational primitives from scratch, offering ready-made workers, APIs, and UI components.

Tether said the goal of open-sourcing its mining stack is to lower barriers to entry for new miners and remove the “black box” nature of many existing mining setups, where hardware and monitoring tools are tightly coupled to proprietary platforms.

The release places Tether alongside other crypto firms pushing open-source mining infrastructure, including Jack Dorsey’s Block, which has previously backed efforts to decentralize mining tooling and hardware access.

MOS marks another step in Tether’s expansion beyond its core stablecoin business. The company has increasingly positioned itself across mining, payments, and infrastructure, reporting more than $10 billion in net profit in 2025, driven largely by interest income on its reserves.

This post Tether Launches Open-Source Bitcoin Mining Operating System first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

Bitcoin Magazine

ING Deutschland Opens Retail Access to Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Products

ING Deutschland, one of Germany’s largest retail banks, has begun offering retail clients access to cryptocurrency-linked exchange-traded notes (ETNs) and products, allowing customers to gain exposure to bitcoin and other crypto directly through their existing securities accounts.

According to information published on ING’s website, the products are physically backed exchange-traded instruments issued by established asset managers including 21Shares, Bitwise, and VanEck. 

The instruments track the performance of individual cryptocurrencies and trade on regulated exchanges via ING’s Direct Depot platform, which is typically used for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds.

The bank said the bitcoin offering is intended to lower barriers to entry for crypto investing by integrating digital asset exposure into familiar banking infrastructure. 

Clients do not need to set up third-party crypto exchanges, manage private keys, or operate self-custody wallets, as custody and execution are handled within the securities account framework.

“This creates another particularly low-threshold access to crypto investments via exchange-traded products,” said Martijn Rozemuller, CEO of VanEck Europe, in a translated press release. “Many investors want a solution that fits into existing depot structures and at the same time convinces them with transparent costs. That’s exactly what this partnership stands for.”

ING noted that the bitcoin and crypto ETNs receive the same tax treatment in Germany as directly held cryptocurrencies. Under current German tax rules, capital gains on crypto assets may be exempt if the position is held for more than one year, potentially making the products attractive to long-term investors.

Despite the expanded access, the bank emphasized that the products carry substantial risks. ING warned of “extreme” price volatility, the possibility of total loss in the event of issuer insolvency, liquidity risks, market manipulation, and ongoing regulatory uncertainty surrounding digital assets.

In educational materials published alongside the launch, ING took a notably cautious stance on the asset class itself.

 “Cryptocurrencies are speculative products that have no intrinsic value,” the bank stated, adding that crypto prices are “strongly dependent on psychological effects,” which also influence exchange-traded crypto products.

German banks are embracing bitcoin

Germany’s major banking groups are moving to bring crypto trading into the regulated retail banking system. DZ Bank has secured MiCAR approval and will roll out its “meinKrypto” platform across cooperative banks, allowing customers to trade and custody Bitcoin and other digital assets directly within existing banking apps, while also joining a consortium developing a regulated euro stablecoin. 

In parallel, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe plans to launch Bitcoin and crypto trading for private customers by summer 2026, with technical support from DekaBank, marking a reversal from its earlier skepticism toward digital assets. 

This post ING Deutschland Opens Retail Access to Bitcoin Exchange-Traded Products first appeared on Bitcoin Magazine and is written by Micah Zimmerman.

While price action has always been volatile and, arguably, exciting, the Bitcoin network itself is built to feel boring. Ten minutes per block, tick tock, rinse and repeat, a metronome you can set your watch to.

Then every so often, it gets very human again.

Early this morning, block production slowed enough that the average block time briefly spiked to 19.33 minutes. On the surface, it appears to be a technical issue. Below, it reads like a real-time pulse check of an industry that operates on thin margins, loud fans, cheap power, and a lot of stress.

When miners shut down their machines, the network does not immediately adjust. Bitcoin’s difficulty only updates every 2,016 blocks, so if the hashrate drops quickly, blocks come in slower until the next retarget. That gap between reality and the protocol’s response is where you get the weird mornings, the longer waits, the uneasy posts in mining chats, the quiet “something’s off” feeling.

Right now, “off” looks a lot like miners backing away.

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Jan 31, 2026 · Andjela Radmilac

The network is telling you miners are stepping back

Over the last stretch of difficulty adjustments, more of them have been negative, and that matters because difficulty is Bitcoin’s way of matching the workload to the number of machines competing to solve blocks.

Hashrate Index’s latest weekly roundup noted the most recent difficulty adjustment on Jan. 22 came in at a -3.28% cut, bringing difficulty to about 141.67T, and it flagged an early estimate for another large negative adjustment in the next cycle, around the Feb. 8 window, with early-epoch projections bouncing near the mid-teens percentage range, while cautioning those estimates can change as the epoch develops.

Other trackers are landing in the same neighborhood. On mempool, the estimated next adjustment is a decline near 15%, and the site’s dashboard has average block time running around the 11 to 12 minute range in the current stretch.

That is slower than the ten-minute target, and it matches the story the charts are trying to tell, miners pulled back, the network is slogging along, the protocol is waiting for the next recalibration.

CoinWarz puts the next difficulty estimate at 121.78T, down about 14.04%, with the average block time around 11.63 minutes, and the retarget date pointing to Feb. 8.

The next adjustment is, therefore, set to be the sharpest drawdown since the post-China-ban era. A block-time spike is a symptom. A run of negative difficulty adjustments is a diagnosis.

Why a 14 to 18% difficulty cut would be a big deal

A double-digit difficulty cut is the protocol admitting the mining economy has changed fast enough that the previous setting no longer fits. For people outside mining, it's background noise. For miners, it is the difference between a fleet that limps along and a fleet that has to shut the lights off.

If the next adjustment lands around 14 to 18%, it would be large enough to put a marker down, especially coming after multiple negative adjustments in recent months. It would also be a reminder that Bitcoin’s difficulty algorithm is a shock absorber, not a crystal ball.

A move that size has happened before, and bigger ones have too.

The largest single downward difficulty adjustment on record came in early July 2021, when difficulty fell about 28% after China’s mining crackdown forced a massive chunk of the global hashrate offline.

So a 14 to 18% cut has precedent, and the network has seen much worse, the context is different though, the China era was a sudden geopolitical shock, today’s pressure looks like a slower squeeze, price, power, and profitability grinding against each other.

Related Reading

Bitcoin difficulty just retreated, but a more critical “survival metric” signals the mining sector is bleeding out

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Jan 17, 2026 · Andjela Radmilac

The impact for traders is the margin call

Mining is a business where the product is math and the input is electricity, which means the industry lives and dies by spreads.

When Bitcoin’s price falls, miners earn fewer dollars for the same amount of Bitcoin. When power costs rise, or when a region tightens supply during weather events, their input costs climb. When both happen together, older machines and higher-cost sites get pushed out first.

That is why the story keeps snapping back to “who can stay online.”

Hashrate Index’s roundup pegged USD hashprice around $39.22 per PH per day in its snapshot, which is one of the clearest shorthand metrics for miner revenue, and it noted that the forward market was pricing an average hashprice around $39.50 over the next six months.

However, the sharp price drop over the last week has since brought the 6-month forward market pricing down to $32.25.

That little detail is easy to skim past, and it might be the most useful forecasting anchor in the whole dataset. The fact that it repriced lower so quickly suggests the market is settling into a tighter, weaker profitability band rather than betting on a fast recovery.

If you talk to miners when hashprice compresses, the language gets less theoretical. It turns into power contracts, curtailment programs, lenders, machine loans, and the constant question of whether to keep plugging in gear that earns pennies over power, or to shut down and wait for difficulty to come to you.

That is what negative adjustments do, they act like relief.

When difficulty drops, every miner who stays online earns a bit more Bitcoin per unit of hashrate, all else equal. Some of the machines that were pushed out can come back. Some operators get to breathe again.

It is one of Bitcoin’s strange balancing acts, the protocol is indifferent, but the outcome is deeply personal for the people running warehouses of hardware.

What happens next, three paths to watch

The cleanest narrative from here is a difficulty relief bounce.

Difficulty cut

If the network cuts difficulty by something like 14 to 18%, block times should drift back closer to ten minutes, and profitability for online miners improves immediately.

That tends to slow the bleeding, and it can even bring some hashrate back, especially if the underlying issue was marginal economics rather than an external shock. The mempool dashboard on mempool gives a real-time view of whether block times are mean-reverting.

Difficulty cut and price decline

A tougher path is a prolonged squeeze.

Difficulty can fall, and miners can still struggle if Bitcoin’s price keeps sliding, or if energy costs stay elevated, or if credit conditions tighten further for mining firms that rely on financing.

In that world, you can see a loop, hashrate declines, difficulty adjusts down, revenue relief arrives, price pressure returns, and weaker operators get tapped out anyway.

Difficulty cut, price decline, and miner pivot

A third path is quieter, and it is about structural change.

Mining has been drifting toward flexible, power-aware operations for years, the miners that can curtail during peak prices and ramp up when the grid is cheap tend to survive longer.

The industry is leaning harder into that model, along with a shift toward AI. As certain regions face recurring curtailment and more power is diverted to AI, the hashrate line may stay lower for longer, and difficulty adapts to a new equilibrium.

Beyond the immediate operational changes, the shift signals how miners are being forced to adapt to tighter margins, evolving regulatory pressures, and increasing competition for energy resources.

As the industry matures, these adjustments could reshape the balance of power among mining firms, accelerate consolidation, and influence Bitcoin’s long-term network security and decentralization.

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Feb 3, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

What this means for everyone else

For ordinary Bitcoin users, a slower block cadence mostly shows up as waiting, and sometimes as higher fees when demand stacks up. It is not usually catastrophic. It is more like traffic.

For miners, it is the entire business.

For the broader market, it is one of the few times you can see the invisible infrastructure wobble in public, the base layer showing its seams. Bitcoin’s security model is tied to miner revenue in dollar terms, and when that revenue compresses, the conversation about network health gets louder.

The thing is, Bitcoin is designed to keep going through this. Difficulty adjusts. Blocks keep arriving. The metronome finds the beat again.

The interesting part is the story inside that adjustment, the people on the other end of the machines, the operators doing the math at 3 a.m., deciding what stays on and what goes dark, and the network quietly recording those choices in the only language it knows, time between blocks.

If the next retarget lands anywhere near the mid-teens, it will read as a clear signal that miners are stepping back in a meaningful way, and it will also be a reminder that the protocol is still doing what it has always done, absorbing the shock, resetting the difficulty, and letting the system move forward, one block at a time.

The post Bitcoin mining profit crisis hits as difficulty to drop by 14% this weekend while block time spikes to 20 minutes appeared first on CryptoSlate.

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds recorded $561.8 million in net inflows on Feb. 2, ending a four-day streak of nearly $1.5 billion in outflows.

Investors could interpret the number as a return of conviction after punishing outflows, but Jamie Coutts, chief crypto analyst at Real Vision, offered a different read.

According to him:

“Aggregate ETF flows are not buying the dip. Net institutional demand is coming almost entirely from a shrinking group of Treasury-style buyers with remaining balance-sheet capacity. That's not sustainable under continued pressure. A durable Bitcoin bottom likely requires these actors to reverse their positioning — not just slow their selling.”

The distinction matters because ETF inflows measure net share creation in the primary market, not whether the marginal buyer is taking directional Bitcoin risk.

A positive flow print can represent risk-on conviction or risk-off positioning dressed up as demand. The difference hinges on what occurs in the derivatives market immediately after those ETF shares are created.

Flows aren't exposure

Exchange-traded fund creations and redemptions are executed by authorized participants, which are large institutions that keep ETF prices close to net asset value through arbitrage.

When an ETF trades at a premium or discount to its underlying holdings, authorized participants can profit by creating or redeeming shares. That activity shows up as “flows” even when the initiating trade is market structure-driven rather than a macro dip-buy.

More importantly, inflows can represent the spot leg of a delta-neutral basis trade.

Banque de France explicitly describes hedge funds exploiting the futures-spot basis by shorting futures and hedging with long spot exposure via Bitcoin ETF shares.

The central bank notes that basis ranges and annualized equivalents make this trade attractive when volatility and margin costs are stable. CME Group defines basis trading as the simultaneous holding of opposing spot and futures positions to create delta-neutral exposure, with returns arising from basis convergence rather than Bitcoin's price movement.

In practice, this means an institution can buy ETF shares and immediately sell Bitcoin futures or perpetual swaps.

The result resembles institutional demand in headline flow prints, while being economically closer to a carry book than a risk-on bet. The institution earns the spread between spot and futures prices as they converge, clipping an implied yield subject to margin and risk limits.

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Feb 2, 2026 · Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Five reasons inflows rise without dip buying

Cash-and-carry or basis trades represent the clearest example.

Going long ETF shares while shorting futures or perpetual swaps to achieve basis convergence generates flows that appear bullish, even as net delta exposure remains near zero.

Authorized participant arbitrage adds another layer. Creations and redemptions happen because the ETF traded away from net asset value, not because someone wants Bitcoin exposure.

The flow is the settlement artifact of a pricing discrepancy, not a bet.

Liquidity provision and inventory rebalancing create similar distortions. Market makers may issue shares to meet secondary market demand while hedging elsewhere. The flow appears, but the price support vanishes if the hedge offsets the spot buying.

Cross-venue hedging can directly offset spot buying pressure. Spot purchases to create ETF shares can be matched by futures selling or options hedges, reducing the “price floor” effect even with positive flow prints.

Balance sheet-constrained buyers, who dominate marginal demand, create fragility.

If the primary bid comes from a smaller set of carry players, inflows become episodic and vulnerable to risk-off conditions. This is Coutts' “not sustainable under continued pressure” thesis.

What the positioning data shows

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's CME Bitcoin futures report shows large gross longs and shorts among non-commercial participants, with sizable spread positions.

That's consistent with systematic relative-value activity being present in the market, exactly what to expect if a meaningful portion of “institutional demand” is hedged rather than directional.

The Banque de France provides basis ranges and annualized equivalents that clarify the economics.

When the expected carry, calculated as futures basis minus financing cost, fees, and margin haircuts, is attractive and volatility remains stable, carry buyers scale the trade and ETF inflows rise.

When volatility spikes or margins increase, or when basis collapses, they de-risk, and flows can flip negative quickly.

This creates a forward-looking distinction. A genuine bottoming process would show basis compressing and futures shorts reducing through covering while ETF inflows persist.

That would signal that inflows are beginning to represent net delta demand rather than just carry.

A fake-out looks different: inflows persist but are matched by rising hedges in futures and perpetual swap markets.

The market gets flow headlines without durable spot support, and any renewed selling pressure forces an unwind.

Coutts' claim suggests the second scenario dominates until proven otherwise.

When inflows actually matter

The clearest test of whether inflows reflect conviction rather than carry is to examine what's happening in derivatives markets.

If ETF inflows are positive while hedges are unwinding, such as basis compresses, futures shorts, and spread positions fall, open interest behavior supports de-risking of carry books, then the inflows likely represent net new demand.

If inflows are positive while futures shorts build or remain elevated, open interest expands in ways consistent with hedging activity, and basis remains wide enough to justify the trade. The flows are plumbing, not positioning.

ETF premiums and discounts to net asset value offer another signal.

When the ETF trades close to NAV, creations are more likely to be mechanical inventory management or basis-trade execution rather than panic bottom-fishing by conviction buyers.

The Feb. 2 inflow of $561.8 million arrived after Bitcoin had already fallen below $73,000. The move pushed Bitcoin to its lowest level since the 2024 election, below its 2024 all-time high of $73,777.

Liquidations had hit $2.56 billion in recent days, according to CoinGlass data. Macro risk-off sentiment, driven by the Kevin Warsh Fed chair nomination and Microsoft's Azure growth disappointment, had soured broader markets.

In that context, a single day of positive flows doesn't prove buyers stepped in with conviction.

It proves that authorized participants created shares. Whether those shares represent directional exposure or the spot leg of a delta-neutral trade determines whether the flows provide price support or merely disguise carry activity as demand.

The sustainability question

Coutts' framing of the remaining demand as coming from a shrinking group of Treasury-style buyers with finite balance sheet capacity points to a structural limit.

Basis trades are balance sheet-intensive. Institutions running these strategies face margin requirements, leverage limits, and risk concentrations that constrain how much they can scale.

If the marginal bid comes from this group rather than from conviction-driven allocators, then each incremental dollar of inflow requires more capital and increases fragility.

A durable bottom likely requires a regime shift in which these actors reverse their positioning, not just slow their selling, and in which unhedged directional buyers return in size. Until then, positive flow days can coexist with continued price pressure.

The flows measure plumbing. The price measures whether anyone is actually buying the dip.

The post Bitcoin has ended its $1.5B outflow streak, yet the trade driving inflows could vanish under pressure appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin is a $1.5 trillion prize pool secured by nothing more than numbers, private keys, generated by math, that unlock wallets holding real money.

That’s the seductive idea behind Keys.lol: a site that spits out batches of Bitcoin private keys and their corresponding addresses, like an infinite roll of digital lottery tickets.

Refresh the page, and you get another set. Refresh again, and you get another.

Somewhere in that endless stream is a key that matches a wallet with a balance, maybe even one holding a life-changing amount.

This is the only lottery where the game is real, and the jackpot exists, yet the odds are so extreme that “never” is the practical outcome.

The keyspace is so vast that even checking billions of addresses at a time doesn’t meaningfully move the needle; the chance of landing on a funded wallet is so close to zero that it effectively disappears.

Keys.lol feels like a shortcut to fortune, but what it actually demonstrates is the opposite: why Bitcoin wallets are secure, and why brute-force “guessing” isn’t a threat model so much as a lesson in how big numbers can get.

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How to play the free Bitcoin lottery

Open the website. Hit refresh. Watch it spit out a new batch of 90 Bitcoin private keys and addresses, like scratchcards scrolling past at high speed.

It feels like a loophole in reality: if you can generate enough keys, fast enough, surely you’ll eventually land on one that already controls real BTC.

That temptation is exactly what Keys.lol is built to dramatize. The homepage claims “every Bitcoin private key” is on the site and encourages you to “try your luck.”

But the punchline is mathematical: yes, you can play, and no, you can’t win, at least not in any practical sense.

I'm not trying to advertise how to “hack Bitcoin.” It’s the opposite: a fun, slightly mind-melting way to understand why Bitcoin wallets are secure.

The space of possible keys and addresses is so large that “randomly guessing” is effectively impossible.

An unintended side effect is that refreshing for long enough may well cure your gambling addiction, too. The fun goes from “but what if I hit one?” to “yeah, this is impossible” pretty quickly.

Keys.lol turns keyspace into a game

Keys.lol doesn’t store a literal database of keys (that would be physically impossible). It generates keys procedurally on the fly based on a page number.

That means it can display deterministic slices of the keyspace without ever saving them.

In other words: it’s not a vault of stolen secrets. It’s a number generator with a balance checker and a casino vibe.

And if you’re refreshing random batches, say 90 addresses at a time, you’re essentially buying free lottery tickets against the entire Bitcoin address universe.

The math behind the impossible odds

A Bitcoin private key is basically a number in an astronomically large range. Keys.lol itself describes it as between 1 and (2^256).

But for this “lottery,” the practical target is addresses with a non-zero balance.

As of February 2026, there are 58 million BTC addresses with a non-zero balance. Let’s use that as the “number of winning tickets.”

Now compare it to the size of the space you’re sampling from.

A standard way to think about Bitcoin addresses is that they’re derived via hashing to a 160-bit value.

• (2^160) possible address-hash outcomes
• That’s about 1.46 × 10^48 possible destinations for “where BTC could be,” in address-space terms

Even if tens of millions are funded, that’s still a rounding error against 10^48.

So what are the odds per refresh?

If you sample addresses uniformly at random from the full space, the probability a single random address is one of the 58,000,000 non-zero ones is:

• p = 58,000,000 / 2^160 ≈ 3.97 × 10^-41

If you check 90 addresses in one go, your chance of finding at least one non-zero balance becomes:

• P(≥ 1) ≈ 90p ≈ 3.57 × 10^-39

That’s roughly:

• 1 in (2.8 × 10^38)

Written out, that’s:

1 in 280,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (“280 undecillion.”)

A human way to feel “1 in 2.8×10^38”

Try this mental model:

Imagine you could do one billion refreshes per second (and each refresh checks 90 addresses).

The expected time to hit just one non-zero address would still be on the order of 10^12 years.

The age of the universe is ~10^10 years.

That’s about 10^12 times the age of the universe, or a trillion universe-lifetimes just to find a single funded address.

So you’re not “unlikely” to win. You’re functionally guaranteed not to on any timescale that matters.

How much harder than winning the lottery?

The EuroMillions jackpot odds are about 1 in 139,838,160; the US Powerball odds are 1 in 292,201,338.

Keys.lol's “90-address refresh finds a funded wallet” odds are about 1 in (2.8 × 10^38).

So EuroMillions is roughly:

• (2.8 × 10^38) / (1.398 × 10^8) ≈ 2 × 10^30

That’s about two nonillion times more likely than your refresh ever finding a non-zero address.

Put differently: you’d have a better chance of winning EuroMillions again and again and again than hitting a funded BTC address by random key generation.

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This is why Bitcoin wallets are secure

The entire security model of Bitcoin ownership is built on one simple idea:

Even if everyone on Earth used every computer they could possibly build, guessing someone else’s private key is still computationally and probabilistically out of reach.

Keys.lol is compelling because it makes the impossible feel tangible. You’re looking at real-looking keys and real-looking addresses and hoping for a miracle.

But Bitcoin doesn’t rely on secrecy through obscurity. It relies on the sheer scale of the keyspace.

The “attack” you’re simulating, random guessing, isn’t a threat model. It’s a lesson in large numbers.

If you ever “hit” a funded key, it’s theft, not a free jackpot

There’s a reason this “free Bitcoin lottery” is such a useful teaching tool: it exposes the difference between possible in theory and permissible in real life.

If you were to generate a private key that corresponds to a wallet with funds, and then try to “sweep” those coins, you wouldn’t be claiming abandoned treasure.

You’d be taking assets you don’t own, without consent. In plain terms: it’s theft.

Even framing it as “luck” doesn’t change what’s happening. The private key is simply the credential that proves control.

Discovering someone else’s credentials doesn’t grant you ownership any more than finding a stranger’s bank card PIN would.

And there’s a second, subtler risk: trying to turn this into a get-rich scheme can expose you to legal consequences.

Whether it’s prosecuted as theft, fraud, unauthorized access, or another offense depends on the jurisdiction. But the core point is the same: “I guessed it” is not a defense, and “finders keepers” doesn’t apply to digital property.

So yes, Keys.lol is a fascinating window into Bitcoin’s security model. But the only “win condition” here is understanding the math, not trying to cash out someone else’s balance.

“Mathematically never” is still annoying for bots, so Keys.lol adds friction anyway

Even though the odds of finding a funded wallet are so tiny they round to zero for any practical human timeline, Keys.lol still throws up bot protection.

Click “Random page” too aggressively, and you can be redirected to an “Are you human?” captcha.

In other words: even the site itself assumes someone, somewhere, will try to automate refreshes at scale, and it actively tries to slow that down.

That doesn’t make Bitcoin “more secure” (the security comes from the size of the keyspace). But it does make this particular game harder to industrialize.

It’s a reminder that brute-force behavior is expected, and throttled, even when the underlying math already makes success effectively impossible.

The “expected reward” of a refresh (and why the fun math is misleading)

Let’s do some back-of-the-napkin maths anyway.

The average non-zero wallet holds about 0.126 BTC, and we can value that at roughly $9,852 today, then the arithmetic is:

• $9,852 ÷ 58,000,000 ≈ $0.0001362069
• That’s about $1 per 9,852 in this simplified framing.

But here’s the catch: that calculation quietly assumes each refresh is picking from the set of funded wallets.

In reality, you’re sampling from the full address universe. The microscopic part is the chance of landing on any of those 58 million non-zero addresses at all.

Once you include that probability, the true expected value collapses to essentially zero.

Using today’s BTC price (~$78,195), 0.126 BTC is about $9,852.

But the expected value per 90-address refresh is still only about:

• $3.5 × 10^-35 per refresh

That’s the kind of number where “expected $1” would require roughly 2.8 × 10^34 refreshes on average.

Bitcoin’s market cap is currently around $1.5T on major trackers (it fluctuates daily).

That headline number is what makes the “free lottery” feel so seductive: a giant pool of value, sitting behind “just a number.”

But the lock is better than anything physical, it is built on cold, hard math.

Play the lottery on the first page of Bitcoin private and public keys.

The post The trillion dollar Bitcoin lottery you can play now for free – but will never win appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Bitcoin fell around 8% on Feb. 3, briefly losing the $73,000 level.

A quick rebound took prices to $74,500 as of press time, dampening the intraday correction to 5.8%. The decline marks the lowest price point in the President Donald Trump administration and the weakest level since the November 2024 Presidential Election.

The selloff pushed Bitcoin as low as its March 2024 all-time high of $73,500, a level that held through the early stages of the decline but ultimately gave way under sustained selling pressure.

The move revived a cluster of support zones that traders have monitored as critical technical thresholds for nearly a year.

Macro risk-off drives crypto lower

The crypto weakness is linked to broad risk-off sentiment across markets, sparked by Trump's nomination of Kevin Warsh as Federal Reserve chair.

Warsh's selection stoked concerns about a more hawkish policy mix and tighter financial conditions, pressures that historically weigh on high-beta assets, including cryptocurrencies. A stronger dollar, which typically accompanies such expectations, compounds the headwind for digital assets. The current dollar weakness, however, makes this decline even more painful.

Microsoft's Azure growth disappointment added to the selling pressure, souring broader risk sentiment and triggering cross-asset contagion.

The AI trade wobble demonstrated how crypto remains vulnerable to spillover effects from growth-sensitive technology sectors, particularly when positioning is stretched and liquidity is thin.

Leverage unwind amplifies decline

CoinGlass data shows over $2.5 billion in Bitcoin liquidations in recent days, turning what began as a macro-driven selloff into a cascade of forced selling.

Thin weekend liquidity exacerbated the selloff that began at $84,000 on Saturday, according to a Bitfinex note.

The combination of macro triggers and leverage unwinding created conditions in which relatively modest initial selling pressure could force far larger moves, as stop-losses and margin calls compounded the decline.

Additionally, institutional flows in 2026 have been uneven.

Exchange-traded fund (ETF) inflows, often followed by outflows during volatility episodes, suggest tactical rebalancing rather than aggressive dip-buying, leaving prices exposed as liquidation pressure accelerates.

The absence of consistent institutional demand meant there was no meaningful buffer when forced selling began.

Galaxy Digital research also noted that near-term catalysts appear scarce, with diminished odds of legislative progress on market structure acting as a narrative headwind.

Without clear positive drivers on the horizon, traders lack the conviction to step in aggressively during drawdowns.

Critical support and resistance levels

Bitcoin now trades within a tightly watched technical range.

The $73,500 level from 2024 and the Feb. 3 intraday low of $72,945 form the immediate support zone.

IG Markets identifies a broader support band between $73,581 and $76,703, an area associated with prior cycle highs and 2025 lows that has been tested multiple times over the past year.

CryptoSlate also identified several support and resistance levels for 2026 in Akiba's bear market analysis.

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Nov 24, 2025 · Liam 'Akiba' Wright

A daily close below this band would increase the probability of follow-through selling toward the next support cluster between $72,757 and $71,725. If that zone fails to hold, the July 2024 peak of around $70,041 becomes the next major downside waypoint.

On the resistance side, Bitcoin's reclamation of the 2024 all-time high of $73,500 indicates that buyers are willing to defend the recent breakdown level. The April 2025 trough zone around $74,508 now acts as resistance after previously serving as support.

Above that, minor resistance sits at $78,300, with the November 2025 low of $80,620 and the psychological $80,000 level forming the next meaningful barrier.

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Distinguishing bounce from recovery

A single-day rebound does not constitute a durable bottom.

Historical patterns suggest that sustainable recoveries typically require at least two conditions: repeated daily closes above the $74,500 level, converting the April 2025 reference zone from resistance to support, and evidence that liquidation pressure has faded following the $2.56 billion forced-selling wave.

Without these confirmations, rallies risk becoming dead-cat bounces into overhead resistance as sellers use strength to exit positions.

ETF flows must stabilize beyond isolated green days, consistent with the tactical rather than aggressive institutional behavior.

Two near-term scenarios

If Bitcoin holds the $73,000 to $73,445 support zone and reclaims $74,500, the path of least resistance becomes a grind toward $78,300, then the $80,000 to $80,620 range.

This scenario requires both technical follow-through and the absence of new macroeconomic headwinds.

Alternatively, a daily close below the $73,581 lower band increases the odds of continuation selling into the $72,757 to $71,725 zone, with the $70,000 level as the next major psychological and technical waypoint.

This scenario becomes more likely if liquidation pressure remains elevated or if macro conditions deteriorate further.

Bitcoin's decline below its 2024 all-time high after nearly a year of holding that level as support constitutes a technical breakdown, shifting the burden of proof to buyers.

The combination of macro risk-off sentiment, leverage unwinding, and tactical institutional flows created conditions in which support levels that had held for months gave way within hours.

The post Bitcoin in freefall hitting lowest price since Trump took office as leverage turns a macro wobble into a brutal cascade appeared first on CryptoSlate.

The euphoria of October’s record highs has evaporated, leaving the industrial backbone of the Bitcoin network facing a brutal reality check.

According to CryptoSlate's data, Bitcoin is currently trading near $78,000, a level that represents a punishing decline of more than 38% from its all-time high of over $126,000 just four months ago.

While casual observers might see a standard market correction, the view from inside the mines is far more dire. The steep drop in the flagship digital asset's price has collided with stubbornly high network difficulty and rising energy costs to create a perfect storm for operators.

Analytics firm CryptoQuant recently described miners as “extremely underpaid,” given the current combination of depressed prices and difficulty, with its profit-and-loss sustainability index slumping to 21. That is the lowest reading since late 2024.

Notably, the financial strain is already causing machines to go offline, resulting in Bitcoin’s total hashrate declining by about 12% since last November, the steepest drawdown since the China mining ban in 2021. This has left the network at its weakest level since September 2025.

For a system that sells itself as the most secure computer network in the world, this is more than just a bear-market story. It is a stress test of Bitcoin’s security model at a moment when miners have better-paying alternatives than ever before.

Bitcoin miners' capitulation maths

Bitcoin’s security relies on a simple incentive structure in which the network pays a fixed block subsidy plus transaction fees to whoever solves the next block.

When prices were above $126,000 in October, the “security budget” was sufficient to cover inefficiencies. However, the margin for error has vanished as prices have crashed under $80,000.

New figures from the mining pool f2pool illustrate how severe the revenue compression has become.

On its Feb. 2 hardware electricity cost dashboard, the pool estimates Bitcoin’s price at around $76,176, network hashrate at near 890 exahashes per second (EH/s), and daily revenue at about $0.034 per terahash for miners paying $0.06 per kilowatt-hour.

To put that in perspective, Luxor Technology’s Hashrate Index recorded spot hashprice near $39 per petahash per second (PH/s) per day only a few months prior.

That figure was already thin by historical standards before falling toward an all-time low of around $35 as of press time.

The current f2pool figure of $0.034 per terahash, equivalent to $34 per PH/s, confirms that miners are operating at the historical floor.

When those economics are mapped onto individual machines, it becomes clear why hashrate is falling.

At a reference Bitcoin price of $75,000 and the same six-cent power cost, electricity accounts for about 52% of revenue for Bitmain’s newest Antminer S21 XP Hydro units, which combine roughly 473 TH/s of hashpower with 5,676 watts of draw. Those are the best numbers available.

As the efficiency curve worsens, the math turns red. Mid-generation rigs, such as an Antminer S19 XP or an Avalon A1466i, exhibit electricity cost rates of approximately 92%-100% at that price point.

Meanwhile, older or less efficient models, including the Avalon A1366, Whatsminer M50S, and S19 Pro lines, show electricity cost rates ranging from approximately 109% to 162%.

In plain English, this means that at $75,000 Bitcoin and a mainstream power tariff, vast fleets of hardware are mining at a cash loss before even accounting for debt, hosting fees, or general expenses.

The AI escape hatch

This current revenue crash differs from previous crypto winters because the miners' distressed assets, like power contracts and grid connections, have a new, deep-pocketed suitor.

The same infrastructure that enables Bitcoin mining is precisely what hyperscale AI compute requires. And unlike the struggling Bitcoin network, AI infrastructure providers are willing to pay up.

The former mining operation CoreWeave has become emblematic of this shift. It pivoted from crypto to become a specialist “neocloud” for AI workloads and recently secured a $2 billion equity investment from Nvidia to accelerate its data center buildout.

In 2025, it sought to acquire miner Core Scientific in a multibillion-dollar deal, explicitly framing miners’ sites and power contracts as prime real estate for GPUs rather than ASICs.

Other public Bitcoin miners have taken the hint and are pivoting hard towards AI. For example, Canadian operator Hut 8 recently signed a 15-year, 245-megawatt AI data center lease at its River Bend campus, with a stated contract value of approximately $7 billion.

This deal effectively locks in long-term economics that differ markedly from the volatility of mining rewards.

For shareholders, these pivots offer a rational exit from the bleeding caused by the 30% price drop. They can swap cyclical Bitcoin revenues for contracted AI cash flows that investors currently value at a premium.

For the Bitcoin network, however, this raises a more difficult question: what happens when a component of its security infrastructure discovers a business that offers higher compensation?

Bitcoin's network security budget under siege

Jeff Feng, co-founder of Sei Labs, called the current period “the biggest bitcoin miner capitulation since 2021,” arguing that large miners pivoting to AI compute are amplifying the drawdown.

The key difference from prior cycles is that some of this hash isn’t just powering down until the price recovers. It is being reallocated permanently.

Once a 245 MW site is fully re-racked for AI under a long-term lease, that power is, in practice, unavailable for future hashrate expansion.

Make no mistake, Bitcoin remains extremely secure in absolute terms. Even after recent declines, the cost of amassing sufficient hashpower to attack the network remains immense.

However, the concern is about direction and composition rather than immediate collapse. A sustained decline in hashrate lowers the marginal cost of attacking.

With less honest hash online, it takes fewer resources to acquire a disruptive share of the network’s compute, whether through renting capacity or building it outright.

This trend also narrows the base of stakeholders paid to defend the chain. If older, higher-cost operators exit and only a handful of ultra-efficient miners remain profitable, control over block production becomes increasingly centralized.

This creates a fragility that is masked by the headline hashrate numbers.

So, CryptoQuant’s “extremely underpaid” label is effectively a warning that, at today’s block rewards and fees, a meaningful slice of industrial hash is operating on thin or negative margins.

It serves as a forward indicator of how robust the network’s security budget really is relative to competing uses of capital and electricity.

How will Bitcoin miners survive?

From here, the miner squeeze could influence Bitcoin’s evolution in several distinct ways.

One path is quiet consolidation. Difficulty resets, the most efficient operators capture a larger share of block production, and hashrate grows more slowly than in previous cycles but remains large enough that few outside specialists notice.

For investors, the primary effect is volatility, as each market drawdown compresses a narrower group of miners, thereby increasing their selling and hedging behavior.

Another path would accelerate Bitcoin's transition to fee-driven security faster than the halving schedule alone implies. If subsidies remain light relative to AI returns, the ecosystem may have to rely more on transaction fees to keep miners fully engaged.

That could mean greater focus on high-value settlement at the base layer, more activity on second-layer systems, and a wider acceptance that block space is a scarce resource rather than a cheap commodity.

A third, more speculative path would see external backstops become explicit. This would mean that the same institutions that normalized spot Bitcoin ETFs might eventually view the security budget as they view bank capital ratios, as something that can require deliberate support.

That could take the form of higher fees for certain transaction classes, industry-funded incentives for miners, or scrutiny of AI conversions that materially dent hashrate in key regions.

Notably, none of those outcomes would require a break with Bitcoin’s core design. All involve the industry deciding, in a more crowded energy market, how much it is prepared to pay to keep hash on the network rather than in GPU clusters.

At present, the f2pool dashboard provides a snapshot of that negotiation. A system with about 890 exahashes per second of compute and a price of approximately $76,000 is paying roughly 3.5 cents per terahash per day for its security.

Whether future energy investments accept that rate or demand something closer to AI economics will determine how the mining market ultimately pivots.

The post Bitcoin mining revenue hits historic low as infrastructure is sold to AI giants permanently altering the network’s security appeared first on CryptoSlate.

Crypto.com’s standalone platform OG arrives as multiple states are taking enforcement actions against prediction market operators.

The Incognito Market operator extorted vendors by threatening to publish their transaction histories and crypto addresses.

Nevada's enforcement action comes after Coinbase filed federal lawsuits challenging three other states over prediction market jurisdiction.

Fragile momentum and macro uncertainty are keeping Bitcoin and the broader crypto market at risk of further declines, analysts say.

Authorities say they are reviewing reports of a Bitcoin ransom note tied to the case of Today show host Savannah Guthrie's missing mother.

Surge in derivatives activity follows as the broader crypto market experienced a sell-off.

Shiba Inu is surging in future market flows, which might not translate to price performance as swiftly as you would expect.

Wednesday, Feb. 4: DOGE jumps on Musk's $850 billion record as ETH tests a 24% rally setup. Cardano (ADA) flips BCH in a high-volume midweek market shift. Read more.

Another massive amount of Bitcoin has landed in Binance's SAFU cryptocurrency fund.

Dogecoin creator has reacted to Michael Saylor's fresh Satoshi Bitcoin statement.

TLDR

• TeraWulf stock climbed 11% Tuesday after revealing two strategic infrastructure purchases
• Company acquired power facilities in Kentucky and Maryland with 1.5 gigawatts of combined capacity
• Total infrastructure portfolio now stands at 2.8 gigawatts across five locations
• Kentucky site offers 480 megawatts of immediate power with 250+ buildable acres
• Maryland generating station delivers 210 megawatts with 1 gigawatt expansion potential

TeraWulf shares surged 11% in pre-market trading Tuesday following the company’s announcement of two power-focused acquisitions. The stock reached an intraday high of $15.58.

TeraWulf Inc., WULF

The bitcoin mining company purchased industrial sites in Hawesville, Kentucky, and Morgantown, Maryland. The deals bring 1.5 gigawatts of additional capacity into TeraWulf’s portfolio.

These acquisitions more than double the company’s infrastructure base. TeraWulf now controls 2.8 gigawatts of total capacity.

The company unveiled both transactions in a late Monday press release. Markets responded positively when trading opened Tuesday morning.

Kentucky and Maryland Sites Bring Immediate Power Access

The Kentucky facility spans over 250 buildable acres at a former industrial location. It provides immediate access to 480 megawatts of power through existing infrastructure.

An on-site substation and high-voltage transmission lines come with the property. The location offers proximity to major Midwest markets. TeraWulf plans phased development of the site.

The Maryland acquisition involves the Morgantown Generating Station. This active power facility currently delivers 210 megawatts to the electrical grid.

The Maryland site can expand to 1 gigawatt of total capacity. TeraWulf projects the first buildout phase could support 500 megawatts of computing infrastructure.

The company stated it will add power generation alongside computing operations. This strategy aims to maintain net-positive grid contributions.

Positioning for AI and Computing Growth

TeraWulf Chairman and CEO Paul Prager explained the strategic thinking behind the purchases. “These acquisitions reflect our strategy of reinvesting in existing energy infrastructure to support grid reliability, long-term economic activity, and responsible growth,” he said.

Prager highlighted the importance of geographic diversity. “Regional diversity has become increasingly important as grid congestion, permitting timelines, and weather and policy considerations vary by market,” he added.

The moves position TeraWulf to capitalize on growing demand for computing infrastructure. Crypto miners have emerged as important players in the AI data center space.

AI companies require massive electricity supplies, data center capacity, and advanced hardware. Miners with power infrastructure can meet these needs.

TeraWulf now operates five total sites. The company targets adding 250 to 500 megawatts of new contracted capacity annually.

Company Pivots Toward AI Infrastructure

Last October, TeraWulf announced plans to raise $900 million through convertible senior notes. The capital supports a strategic shift from traditional bitcoin mining to AI data facility development.

The Kentucky and Maryland properties align with this broader transformation. Both locations offer power advantages and near-term deployment opportunities.

The sites provide long-term scalability as computing infrastructure demands increase. TeraWulf stated the acquisitions will help meet customer demand while supporting regional grid needs.

The company emphasized that both properties offer energy-advantaged locations. Quick power availability and expansion potential factored into the purchase decisions.

The post TeraWulf (WULF) Stock Surges on Game-Changing Infrastructure Acquisitions appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• BitMine Immersion chairman Tom Lee says the company’s $6 billion unrealized ethereum losses are intentional, not a mistake.
• The firm holds 4.24 million ETH valued at $9.6 billion, down from $14 billion in October as crypto markets decline.
• Lee compares BitMine’s approach to an index fund, arguing paper losses are expected during downturns.
• The company added 41,788 ETH last week despite mounting losses, signaling continued commitment to its strategy.
• Lee warns crypto deleveraging could continue into early 2026 but believes the market is nearing a bottom.

BitMine Immersion chairman Tom Lee is pushing back against critics. The company’s $6 billion in unrealized ethereum losses aren’t a problem, he says. They’re part of the plan.

Bitmine Immersion Technologies, Inc., BMNR

Lee defended the treasury company’s strategy in posts on X this week. He said the drawdown reflects the design of BitMine’s ethereum holdings, not poor execution.

“Crypto is in a downturn, so naturally ETH is down,” Lee wrote. Paper losses are “not a bug — it’s a feature.”

BitMine holds 4.24 million ETH worth approximately $9.6 billion. That’s down from nearly $14 billion in October when ethereum traded at higher levels.

The company bought more than 40,000 ETH shortly before prices dropped further. The timing put a spotlight on its balance sheet risk.

Lee compared BitMine to an index product. He questioned why similar scrutiny isn’t applied to index funds when markets fall.

Treasury Strategy Under Pressure

BitMine positions itself as an ethereum treasury company, not a trader. The strategy centers on long-term ETH accumulation and staking yield rather than timing price moves.

That approach mirrors bitcoin treasury firms. They argue volatility comes with the territory when holding a core asset long-term.

But BitMine’s holdings are large. Price swings create outsized effects on reported results, especially during periods of thin liquidity.

The firm estimates annual staking revenue around $164 million. That provides limited protection during sharp price declines.

Lee warned crypto markets are still working through a deleveraging phase. He said it could extend into early 2026.

Speaking on CNBC, Lee said crypto had “taken it much worse than we expected.” He cited capital flowing into precious metals as a factor.

Gold and silver surged 37.4% and 106.9% before reversing sharply. Gold briefly topped $5,600 an ounce before its steepest one-day drop since 1983.

Buying Through the Downturn

Since Lee’s interview, crypto prices kept falling. Bitcoin traded at $77,357, down 11.8% over the week. Ethereum traded around $2,265, down more than 22% over seven days.

Lee pointed to technical analysis suggesting a potential bottom. Advisor Tom DeMark forecast Bitcoin falling to the high $70,000s and ether to around $2,400.

Lee said both price levels and timing have now converged, signaling a possible inflection point.

BitMine’s actions backed up Lee’s conviction. The company acquired 41,788 ETH worth roughly $96 million last week during the downturn.

The firm now holds more than 4.28 million ETH. That represents over 3.5% of Ethereum’s circulating supply.

Based on SEC filings, BitMine accumulated most holdings at an average price near $4,000 per ETH. Current prices sit around $2,265.

Lee maintains Ethereum network activity remains strong. He said active addresses and transaction activity are accelerating as Wall Street firms expand digital asset operations.

Despite mounting losses, Lee’s position is clear. “Bottom line,” the firm said, “ethereum is the future of finance.”

Last week, BitMine acquired 41,788 ETH worth roughly $96 million, bringing total holdings to more than 4.28 million coins valued at approximately $9.6 billion.

The post BitMine (BMNR) Stock: Why Chairman Tom Lee Isn’t Worried About Massive Paper Losses appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR:

• Dollar index plunged from 110 to mid-90s as Trump administration pursues deliberate devaluation strategy
• U.S. national debt exceeded $38 trillion in late 2025, accumulating over $6 billion in new debt daily
• Central banks purchased more gold than U.S. Treasuries for first time in 50 years, shifting reserves
• Gold surged 100% in twelve months, rising from $4,500 to above $5,500 amid loss of fiat confidence

The dollar index has collapsed from 110 to the mid-90s, marking a four-year low as gold prices breach $5,500 per ounce.

Crypto analyst Lark Davis warns this represents a deliberate policy shift rather than market volatility. The monetary reset, long discussed in financial circles, appears to be unfolding in real time as central banks worldwide diversify away from dollar-denominated assets.

Debt Crisis Drives Currency Devaluation Strategy

U.S. national debt surpassed $38 trillion in late 2025, adding over $2 trillion within twelve months. The country now accumulates debt at a rate exceeding $6 billion daily.

This massive debt burden has forced policymakers to consider unconventional solutions, including proposals for 100-year bonds and Bitcoin-linked instruments.

President Trump’s approach centers on engineering a weaker dollar to manage refinancing costs. Approximately $10 trillion of U.S. debt issued at near-zero rates will mature within the next year.

These obligations must be refinanced at current rates around 3.5%, creating enormous pressure on federal budgets.

The administration has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair when his term concludes in May 2026. Warsh, who served as a Fed governor from 2006 to 2011, is expected to implement more aggressive rate cuts. Markets currently anticipate two rate reductions in 2026, though more substantial cuts may follow.

Net interest payments on federal debt now exceed defense spending, according to Goldman Sachs projections. The investment bank estimates debt could surpass $40 trillion this decade from refinancing costs alone.

Lower interest rates would significantly reduce these payments, providing temporary fiscal relief while potentially stoking inflation.

Central Banks Abandon Treasuries for Physical Gold

Central banks have shifted their reserve strategies for the first time in decades, purchasing more gold than U.S. Treasuries.

Gold established 53 new all-time highs throughout 2025, ending the year around $4,500 before jumping above $5,500 in early 2026. This represents a 100% gain over twelve months.

China has reduced its Treasury holdings while accumulating gold reserves. Japan has similarly decreased exposure to dollar-denominated assets.

Even stablecoin companies like Tether have become significant gold holders, diversifying beyond short-term Treasuries.

Davis notes that stablecoin growth creates unexpected demand for U.S. government debt. Companies backing digital tokens with dollars must hold Treasury securities, partially offsetting foreign central banks’ selling.

As stablecoin market capitalization expands into the trillions, this demand could extend dollar dominance despite geopolitical shifts.

The analyst warns that CBDCs represent the next phase of monetary control. European jurisdictions are advancing programmable money systems with geographic and temporal restrictions.

Combined with AI-driven unemployment and recurring financial crises, these digital currencies could enable unprecedented monetary oversight.

The post Dollar Collapse and Gold Surge Signal Global Monetary Reset Underway, Analyst Warns appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Strategy (MSTR) announces Q4 2025 results February 5 after close with expected revenue of $119.12 million and $0.08 per share loss
• Company purchased 855 Bitcoin for $75.3 million on February 2, increasing total holdings to 713,502 BTC at average cost of $76,052
• Bitcoin crash below $73,000 pushes Strategy’s entire holdings underwater for first time as stock falls 60% over past year
• Analysts maintain Strong Buy rating with $437 average price target representing 228% upside potential
• Options market prices 8.32% post-earnings move as crypto volatility raises concerns about company’s Bitcoin-focused strategy

Strategy faces a critical earnings report on Thursday, February 5, after market close. The Bitcoin treasury company reports Q4 2025 results as its cryptocurrency holdings fall below water.

Strategy Inc, MSTR

Wall Street expects revenue of $119.12 million, up 1.3% from last year. Analysts forecast a loss of $0.08 per share versus a $3.03 loss in the year-ago period.

The company has a rough earnings history. It missed estimates in six of the last nine quarters.

MSTR stock has crashed over 60% in the past year. Shares trade at $129.03, down 7% in the last 24 hours. Year-to-date losses stand at 12%.

Bitcoin Crash Creates New Problem

Strategy bought 855 Bitcoin on February 2 for approximately $75.3 million. The purchase price averaged $87,974 per coin.

Total holdings now reach 713,502 Bitcoin. The company’s average cost basis across all purchases sits at $76,052 per coin.

Bitcoin fell below $73,000 on February 3, its worst drop since November 2024. The cryptocurrency traded around $74,674 at press time.

This puts Strategy’s entire Bitcoin stack underwater. It’s the first time holdings are valued below the average purchase price.

The crypto market saw brutal liquidations. Over $660 million in positions were wiped out within 24 hours. Bitcoin led with $112.7 million in liquidations.

More than 161,000 traders faced liquidations during the crash. None of Strategy’s Bitcoin is pledged as collateral, so there’s no forced selling risk.

Analyst Ratings Stay Strong

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Ramsey El-Assal initiated coverage with an Overweight rating. His price target sits at $213 per share.

El-Assal praised the company’s Bitcoin-focused approach. He believes the capital-raising strategy for Bitcoin exposure works well.

The analyst said Bitcoin price swings don’t threaten the balance sheet. He expects growing institutional Bitcoin adoption to help long-term strategy.

Risks remain from price volatility, regulatory changes, and potential dilution. These factors could hurt performance going forward.

Strategy uses market Net Asset Value (mNAV) to measure its premium over Bitcoin holdings. When Bitcoin hit records, mNAV stayed well above 1.

This premium attracted traders who found MSTR shares more profitable than buying Bitcoin directly. But as Bitcoin crashed from October, mNAV dropped toward 1.

MSCI considered excluding companies with over 50% crypto exposure from its indices. On January 6, MSCI delayed the decision pending more research.

Wall Street Expects Big Move

Among 11 analysts covering the stock, nine rate it a Buy and two rate it a Hold. The consensus Strong Buy rating comes with an average price target of $437.11.

That target implies 228% upside from current levels. Options traders expect an 8.32% move after earnings.

Strategy bought 855 Bitcoin for $75.3 million on February 2 at $87,974 per coin, bringing total holdings to 713,502 BTC now valued below the company’s average purchase price of $76,052.

The post Strategy (MSTR) Stock: What to Expect from Earnings Thursday appeared first on Blockonomi.

TLDR

• Alphabet announces Q4 2025 earnings February 4 with projected EPS of $2.63 and revenue of $111.3 billion
• Google Cloud expected to deliver $16.2 billion in sales with operating margins expanding to 22.7%
• Stock has rallied 81% over six months following successful Gemini 3 AI model launch
• Google maintains 90% search market share through AI overviews feature
• Company spent $90 billion on AI infrastructure in 2025 with $116 billion projected for 2026

Alphabet reports fourth quarter 2025 results on Wednesday afternoon. Analysts expect earnings of $2.63 per share on revenue of $111.3 billion.

Alphabet Inc., GOOGL

That represents 23% earnings growth and 15% revenue growth versus last year. The company has beaten earnings forecasts in nine straight quarters.

Google Cloud Drives Growth

Google Cloud emerges as the standout performer. Sales are projected to reach $16.2 billion, up 35% from last year.

Operating margins tell an even better story. They’re expected to hit 22.7%, up from 17.5% a year ago.

The cloud business benefits from the AI infrastructure boom. Companies need massive computing power for AI applications. Google rents servers to meet that demand.

Alphabet invested roughly $90 billion in capital spending during 2025. Most went toward building AI data centers.

Analysts predict $116 billion in capex for 2026. Microsoft already spent $72 billion in just six months. Meta plans $115 billion to $135 billion for 2026.

Search Business Remains Dominant

Twelve months ago, Google looked vulnerable after ChatGPT’s surprise success. The company struggled to match competitors’ AI models.

That changed with November’s Gemini 3 launch. The models finally matched OpenAI and Anthropic’s capabilities.

AI overviews proved game-changing for search. These summaries appear atop traditional results. The feature helped Google keep its 90% market share.

Advertising still generates three-quarters of revenue. Ad revenue should grow 13% this quarter, led by search.

YouTube and display ads continue performing well. The core business stays healthy.

Stock Performance and Outlook

Alphabet shares have jumped 81% over six months. The stock is up more than 64% year-over-year.

Roth MKM analyst Rohit Kulkarni lifted his price target to $365 from $310. He kept a Buy rating on the stock.

Kulkarni sees TPU chip partnerships and Waymo expansion as key catalysts. Major sporting events and midterm elections should boost ad spending in late 2026.

Waymo just raised $16 billion at a $126 billion valuation. The self-driving unit operates over 2,500 vehicles across multiple cities. It’s the only U.S. robotaxi service without safety drivers.

Options traders expect a 5.83% post-earnings move. Wall Street rates the stock Strong Buy with 22 Buy ratings and six Holds.

The average price target of $355.76 implies 4.72% upside. Analysts project Google Cloud will generate $16.2 billion in fourth quarter revenue with operating margins expanding to 22.7% as the company continues investing heavily in AI infrastructure.

The post Alphabet (GOOGL) Stock: Wall Street Stays Bullish Ahead of Earnings Today appeared first on Blockonomi.

Bitcoin’s (BTC) slide below $80,000 has intensified worries that a wider downturn in the broader crypto sector could be imminent.

Market experts believe that the recent slide in BTC’s price may not be an isolated correction, but a development that could seriously destabilize corporate balance sheets and magnify systemic risk if it continues to fall.

Major Market Casualty

Michael Burry has issued a stark warning that Bitcoin’s continued decline could erase significant value across the market, and the greatest risk is concentrated among companies that have built large corporate treasuries around the asset, which have mushroomed over the years.

In the latest Substack post following the latest crypto sell-off, “The Big Short” investor, Burry, said BTC’s drop below important technical levels opens the door to cascading stress not only within crypto markets but also across adjacent financial sectors.

He said that the world’s largest crypto asset is failing to meet a critical expectation often placed on it, that is, acting as a hedge against currency debasement. Instead, Burry said its recent behavior more closely resembles that of a speculative risk asset, particularly given its correlation with the S&P 500. He said gold and silver rallied on geopolitical uncertainty and dollar weakness, but Bitcoin did not follow those macro signals.

Burry also predicted that further downside could have severe consequences for Bitcoin treasury companies that accumulated BTC aggressively during higher price ranges. He highlighted the possibility that another 10% decline could leave major holders such as Michael Saylor’s Strategy billions of dollars underwater, and potentially cut them off from capital markets, thereby increasing bankruptcy risk.

Such outcomes, according to the investor, could amplify losses beyond individual firms and contribute to broader market fallout. Burry additionally noted that Bitcoin’s weakness has coincided with recent pressure in precious metals.

Galaxy Digital’s Zac Prince also questioned the long-term viability of Bitcoin treasury companies, which raise capital to hold BTC on their balance sheets while promising yield. Speaking on TheStreet Roundtable, Prince said these models rely on risky financial engineering rather than BTC’s native value. He compared them to past schemes that created tokens to generate Bitcoin and said that paying a premium for such structures does not make them sustainable.

He even explained that while some firms might pivot to revenue-generating activities, many will still struggle to justify their valuations, and added that businesses should focus on real operations first and treat BTC as a treasury strategy, not the primary driver.

Optimism Wanes

Bitcoin has been under tremendous pressure, and many analysts believe that there could be more pain ahead instead of a much-anticipated recovery.

Former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao also said that while he had been positive about a BTC super cycle just weeks ago, current market sentiment has made him less confident. Speaking on Binance’s social platform, he highlighted the rise of fear, uncertainty, and doubt (FUD) in the community and admitted that the emotional intensity has left him uncertain about BTC’s near-term prospects.

The post Michael Burry Warns Bitcoin Treasury Firms Face Existential Risk as BTC Slide Deepens appeared first on CryptoPotato.

The largest altcoin was hit hard over the past few weeks, dropping from over $3,000 to a multi-month low of $2,100.

Despite this substantial double-digit crash in the span of mere days, though, a few popular analysts recently indicated that the bottom has not been reached yet.

One of them, going by the X handle CW, indicated that ETH plummeted to a major buying wall at $2,100. If it’s to reverse anytime soon, the first significant sell wall is at $2,560.

Ali Martinez based his bottom prediction on the Market Value to Realized Value (MVRV) band, a metric that helps identify potential trend reversals.

He said that Ethereum has historically bottomed out when it dropped below the 0.80 MVRV band. If history repeats itself now, it would result in a price drop to just under $2,000.

Ethereum $ETH bottoms have historically formed below the 0.80 MVRV band.

Today, that level is near $1,959. pic.twitter.com/cgcuy2OgvI

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) February 4, 2026

Crypto Tony shared a similar opinion. The analyst with over 560,000 followers on X noted that ETH could go down to the major support and psychological level of $2,000 before it rebounds decisively.

His chart is quite optimistic as it shows a quick surge to $3,600 before another calamity to yearly lows at $1,500 by the summer of 2026. However, the 1-week macro chart is highly bullish as it predicts a massive run to new all-time highs above $6,000.

$ETH / $USD – Macro Update

Personally i am looking for a bottoming to come in at $2000 level. Major support zone and a psychological level. pic.twitter.com/8VGHOQOx9t

— Crypto Tony (@CryptoTony__) February 4, 2026

The post ETH Dumps 25% in a Week, but Analysts Say the Bottom Isn’t In Yet appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin (BTC) slid to around $72,800 yesterday as U.S. lawmakers debated a stopgap funding package before rebounding once the House passed the bill on February 4, 2026, easing fears of a government shutdown.

The quick turnaround showed how closely crypto prices still track U.S. political risk, even when no blockchain-specific news is involved.

Shutdown Fears Ripple Through Crypto

According to a February 4 post by on-chain analytics firm Santiment, the sell-off unfolded during U.S. trading hours while headlines pointed to a tight vote in the House. As uncertainty built, BTC quickly fell, triggering about $30 million in DeFi liquidations and mirroring a synchronized drop in the S&P 500 and even gold, an asset typically viewed as a safe haven.

This correlation indicates traders were reducing exposure to volatile assets broadly due to the political standoff, not crypto-specific news.

The concern centered on whether Congress would approve a roughly $1.2 trillion funding package to keep most federal agencies running through September 30. Failure would have led to a partial shutdown, delaying economic data and adding stress to an already cautious market.

The tense vote saw Republican divisions, with one representative voting against the bill due to foreign aid provisions.

However, the bill ultimately passed, averting a shutdown and causing markets to respond with immediate relief. Bitcoin bounced from its lows, climbing over 5% within hours, and the S&P 500 also recovered. According to Santiment, the speedy recovery showed that fears of political dysfunction, rather than a fundamental reevaluation of Bitcoin’s value, were behind the earlier sell-off.

Broader Pressures on Bitcoin’s Price

While the funding bill news provided a clear short-term catalyst, Bitcoin is still facing broader headwinds. Per data from CoinGecko, the asset is down nearly 14% in the last seven days and 17% for the month.

A recently published analysis from Galaxy Digital pointed to deteriorating on-chain metrics, with research head Alex Thorn noting that 46% of Bitcoin’s circulating supply is now “underwater,” meaning it was last moved at higher prices, which can increase selling pressure. He also pointed out that there was a lack of significant accumulation by large holders.

Furthermore, on February 3, reports that Iran was seeking to shift the format of nuclear talks with the U.S. contributed to another leg down in Bitcoin’s price, pushing it below $75,000 and burning at least $20 million worth of derivative positions.

Additionally, some analysts like Doctor Profit have revised their downside targets, saying the cycle bottom could hit a range between $44,000 and $54,000. However, the key question is whether the resolution of the immediate U.S. political risk will be enough to reverse these negative technical and on-chain trends, or if BTC is still vulnerable to a deeper test of support.

The post Here’s How US Funding Certainty Calmed Markets and Lifted Bitcoin appeared first on CryptoPotato.

Bitcoin’s adverse price actions as of late worsened yesterday when the asset tumbled to its lowest positions since early November 2024 at $73,000 before recovering by a few grand.

Most altcoins followed suit with enhanced volatility, but some, such as SOL, HYPE, and CC, have been hit harder than others.

BTC’s Latest Rollercoaster

It was just a week ago when the primary cryptocurrency challenged the $90,000 resistance ahead of the first FOMC meeting for the year. After it became official that the Fed won’t cut the rates again, BTC remained sluggish at first but started to decline in the following hours.

The escalating tension in the Middle East was also blamed for another crash that took place on Thursday when bitcoin plunged to $81,000. It bounced off to $84,000 on Friday but tumbled once again on Saturday, this time to under $75,000. Another recovery attempt followed on Monday, only to be rejected at $79,000.

Tuesday brought the latest crash, this time to a 15-month low of $73,000. It has rebounded since then to just over $76,000, but it’s still 3% down on the day. Moreover, it has lost 14% of its value weekly and a whopping 18% monthly.

Its market capitalization has plummeted to $1.525 trillion on CG, while its dominance over the alts has declined to 57.3%.

SOL Below $100

Most larger-cap altcoins have felt the consequences of the violent market crash lately. Ethereum went from over $3,000 to $2,100 in the span of a week, before bouncing to $2,280 as of now. BNB is down to $760, while SOL has plummeted to under $100 after a 7% daily decline.

Even the recent high-flyer HYPE has retraced hard daily. The token is down by 11% to $33. CC and ZEC are also deep in the red, while XMR has gained the most from the larger caps.

The cumulative market cap of all crypto assets has seen more than $70 billion erased in a day and is down to $2.65 trillion on CG.

The post Solana (SOL) Plunges Below $100, Bitcoin (BTC) Recovers From 15-Month Low: Market Watch appeared first on CryptoPotato.

In times of heightened uncertainty, rapidly evolving geopolitical situations, and volatility in the US government, investors have shown markedly different behavior toward the spot crypto ETFs.

While those with exposure to the world’s largest cryptocurrency have been consistently pulling funds out of them, the XRP alternatives actually outperformed their counterparts with a strong daily net inflow yesterday.

XRP Outmatches Competition

Data from SoSoValue shows that the spot Bitcoin ETFs have been predominantly in the red for the past several weeks. February 2 was a proper exception, with more than $560 million entering the funds. However, the previous business week saw more than $1.4 billion in net outflows. February 3 was another painful trading day, with $272 million being pulled out.

Given the cryptocurrency’s recent price decline, ETF investors’ holdings have dipped below their average cost basis for accumulated BTC for the first time in 18 months.

For the first time in over 18 months, Bitcoin $BTC has dipped below the ETF cost basis at $82,600.

This is the average price at which spot ETFs accumulated BTC. https://t.co/uH0xhcDTUz pic.twitter.com/f9VGeVtAxS

— Ali Charts (@alicharts) February 4, 2026

The other crypto ETFs tracking larger-cap altcoins, though, were in the green. The spot Ethereum ETFs attracted $14.06 million; the SOL funds saw a minor net inflow of $1.24 million; and the XRP products outperformed the rest with a net gain of $19.46 million. In total, the Ripple ETFs saw more daily inflows than all other crypto funds combined yesterday.

In fact, this was the XRP ETFs’ best day since January 5, when net inflows reached $46.10 million. The cumulative net inflows into the Ripple funds is up to $1.20 billion, which is still slightly below the $1.26 peak recorded before the January 29 crash.

XRP’s Volatility

Yesterday was another highly eventful and volatile trading day in the cryptocurrency markets. Perhaps due to the growing tension in the Middle East and the partial reopening of the US government, or to ETF inflows and outflows, BTC fell to a yearly low of $73,000 before rebounding to over $76,000 as of press time.

The altcoins went through similar fluctuations. Interestingly, XRP dropped to $1.53, then rose to $1.63 before settling at $1.60 as of now. This means that the token is down by almost 17% weekly and 25% monthly. It was brutally rejected at the $2.40 high reached on January 6, and has failed to stage any sort of sustainable recovery since then.

The post XRP ETFs Beat BTC, ETH, and SOL Funds – Yet Ripple’s Price Still Struggles appeared first on CryptoPotato.