The launch of round-the-clock bitcoin futures trading eliminates the long-standing CME weekend gap and marks another step toward fully integrated institutional crypto markets.
ARK Invest CEO Cathie Wood has defended her bull case for Bitcoin reaching $1.25 million within five years, arguing that institutional allocation, digital-gold substitution and Bitcoin’s hard-coded scarcity remain the central pillars of the forecast. Speaking on Fox Business In Depth: The Crypto Campaign on May 26, Wood said ARK’s $1.25 million projection represents the firm’s bull case rather than its base case. The base case, she said, is “closer to $750,000.” But she framed the more aggressive target as a product of several overlapping shifts: younger investors treating Bitcoin as a digital store of value, emerging-market users seeking protection from monetary instability, and asset allocators beginning to treat crypto as a distinct investment category. “The biggest reason is institutional adoption,” Wood said. “This is a new asset class. It has very low correlation to other asset classes in terms of risks and returns. And so every asset allocator has a responsibility to examine it because it will increase risk-adjusted returns over time.” Why Bitcoin Could Hit $1.25 Million Within Five Years That allocation argument has long sat at the center of ARK’s Bitcoin thesis. In Wood’s framing, Bitcoin’s role is not limited to speculative upside. She described it as a potential substitute for gold as generational wealth changes hands, with younger investors more likely to adopt “a digital store of value.” She also called Bitcoin “an insurance policy,” especially in emerging markets facing what she described as “fiscal and monetary neglect at best or corruption at worst.” Related Reading: Bitcoin’s Worst Outflow Week Of The Year Just Happened — And The Timing Is Alarming Wood also tied Bitcoin’s potential growth to the expanding stablecoin market, though not in the way some crypto maximalists might expect. Rather than predicting an immediate displacement of the dollar, she argued that stablecoins could strengthen dollar distribution globally because major dollar-backed tokens are largely supported by US Treasuries. “Because of stablecoins, the dollar will also be strong,” Wood said. “So effectively stablecoins, so USDC, Circle’s stablecoin, and USDT, Tether’s stablecoin, they are backed primarily by US Treasuries. So to the extent they become successful around the world, we’re going to be effectively exporting dollars. And that should be dollar positive.” At the same time, Wood said she sees an asset-allocation shift beginning toward Bitcoin and other crypto assets, again citing their low correlation with traditional markets. Regulation was another major part of the discussion. Wood said the GENIUS Act and, potentially, the CLARITY Act could establish a framework that allows institutions to enter the crypto market more aggressively. She noted that the administration wants CLARITY completed by July 4, though she said she was unsure whether that timeline would be met. “I think once we do, because the odds have gone up recently that it will be passed, that we will see much more of an institutional swoosh into the space,” Wood said. The ARK founder also leaned into Bitcoin’s supply mechanics as a contrast with gold. She noted that roughly 20 million Bitcoin have already been mined out of the 21 million supply cap, leaving only about 1 million more to be issued. Gold supply, by comparison, rises at roughly 1% per year, she said, and could increase further in response to recent price gains. “Bitcoin is mathematically metered,” Wood said. “There will be no supply response. It’s just mathematically metered. And right now it’s increasing at 0.9% roughly per year, which is lower than gold’s long term. And in the next two years we’ll be down to 0.45% increase per year.” Related Reading: Bitcoin Could Fall To $40,000 If Saylor’s Bid Stalls, Ran Neuner Warns Wood acknowledged the debate over Bitcoin’s performance relative to gold during periods of macro stress, when gold has at times rallied while Bitcoin sold off. But she argued that the relationship between the two assets remains weak over longer periods, citing a correlation of 0.14 since 2019, when institutions began considering Bitcoin more seriously as an asset class. She also said gold has tended to lead Bitcoin in recent cycles, and argued that the two may now be changing places as Bitcoin builds momentum while gold weakens. In her view, a stronger dollar could become a mild headwind for gold, while Bitcoin’s institutional adoption story continues to develop separately. At press time, BTC traded at $75,034. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
Fund manager Michael Kramer says a $150 billion liquidity drain from upcoming U.S. Treasury operations could push bitcoin sharply lower.
Bitcoin is struggling to reclaim higher levels as the price tests the $76,000 level and the market searches for the structural support needed to prevent the correction from extending further. The backdrop is challenging — but a CryptoQuant report has identified a specific event in the miner flow data that adds an important layer of context to the current price action, and the most significant detail is not the event itself but what happened immediately after it. Related Reading: Ethereum Staking Record Meets On-Chain Collapse: Analyst Explains What’s Holding ETH Price On May 18, miners sent approximately 21,000 BTC to Binance in a single day. That figure places the event in a specific historical category: it marks only the second time since February 5, 2026 that miner inflows to Binance have exceeded 20,000 BTC in a single session. The February 5 instance recorded approximately 23,150 BTC arriving from miners — a deposit that coincided with one of the most significant price moments of the recent cycle. Bitcoin Miners to Multi Exchanges Flow | Source: CryptoQuant In conventional on-chain analysis, a transfer of this scale triggers an immediate interpretation. Miners move Bitcoin to exchanges when they are preparing to sell — covering operational costs, locking in profits, or repositioning ahead of anticipated price weakness. A 21,000 BTC deposit from miners is the kind of supply event that markets typically treat as a sell-pressure warning. The CryptoQuant report argues that the conventional interpretation misses the more important signal entirely — and that signal is Bitcoin’s reaction to the inflow rather than the inflow itself. 21,000 BTC From Miners and Bitcoin Didn’t Break The CryptoQuant report identifies the absence of a breakdown as the most analytically significant element of the May 18 miner inflow event. Despite 21,000 BTC arriving from miners in a single session, Bitcoin did not experience the sharp price deterioration that the conventional interpretation would predict. The market absorbed the supply without collapsing under it. The historical pattern the report maps adds the context that makes the current reaction worth tracking carefully. Previous major miner inflow spikes to Binance have appeared either near local bottoms or immediately before upward price moves. In cases where neither occurred, the downside reaction remained limited rather than aggressive. The spikes that look alarming in isolation have repeatedly produced more constructive outcomes than the raw inflow data suggests they should. The exchange reserve data adds the cumulative picture. Binance’s Bitcoin reserve increased from approximately 618,600 BTC on May 6 to approximately 634,000 BTC by May 26 — a net addition of roughly 15,400 BTC that includes the major miner-related inflow. More Bitcoin is sitting on Binance than at any point in the past three weeks. That supply has not translated into a severe price decline. Bitcoin Multi Exchange Reserve | Source: CryptoQuant The CryptoQuant assessment is precise about what this combination does and does not confirm. Miner inflows are not bullish signals by themselves — rising exchange reserves remain a risk if demand weakens or miners continue depositing at elevated rates. But the market’s response to the supply that has already arrived is more informative than the supply itself. Bitcoin facing 21,000 BTC in miner deposits and holding near $76,000 describes a demand structure that is absorbing rather than capitulating — and that distinction is what the report identifies as the most important takeaway from the current setup. Related Reading: Bitcoin Spot Volume Collapses 81% Since October 10: History Points To A Rare Setup Bitcoin Holds Above Key Support Despite Selling Pressure Bitcoin continues consolidating near the $76,000 region after losing momentum from the recent rally toward the $82,000 resistance zone. The daily chart shows BTC struggling to reclaim higher levels as sellers repeatedly defend the area beneath the declining 200-day moving average, which continues acting as the primary macro resistance level for the current structure. Bitcoin loses key SMA | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView Despite the weakness, bulls have so far managed to prevent a decisive breakdown below the critical support region between $72,000 and $73,000. That zone has become the most important structural level on the chart, aligning closely with the rising short-term moving averages that supported the recovery throughout April and early May. Each retracement into that area has attracted buyers, preventing downside continuation. Related Reading: The Institutional Bitcoin Exit Is Real: Analyst Exposes Who’s On The Wrong Side Of The Trade The current consolidation also reflects a broader decline in volatility compared to the capitulation event seen in February, when Bitcoin briefly collapsed toward the $63,000–$65,000 demand zone. Since then, the market has formed a sequence of higher lows, suggesting that aggressive selling pressure is gradually losing momentum even if bullish continuation has not yet been confirmed. As long as Bitcoin holds above the $72,000 support cluster, the broader recovery structure remains technically intact despite the current uncertainty. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
Data shows the Bitcoin Funding Rate for the perpetual futures market has turned positive recently, a sign that bullish positions are dominating. Bitcoin Funding Rates Have Been Green Recently In a new post on X, analytics firm Glassnode has discussed the latest trend in the Bitcoin Funding Rate. This metric measures the average amount of periodic fees that perpetual futures traders are paying each other on the various centralized exchanges right now. Related Reading: Chainlink Whales Are Accumulating: Wallets Hit New All-Time High When the value of this indicator is positive, it means long contract holders are paying a premium to the short investors. Such a trend implies a bullish sentiment is dominant in the market. On the other hand, the metric being below zero suggests a bearish mentality may be shared by the majority of futures market traders, as shorts are outweighing the longs. Now, here is the chart shared by Glassnode that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Funding Rate over the last few months: As displayed in the above graph, the Bitcoin Funding Rate dipped into the negative territory as the cryptocurrency recovered during April and the first half of May. April in particular saw significant negative spikes in the indicator, implying a heavy bias toward short positioning. Since these bets went against the price trend, they ended up getting liquidated as the cryptocurrency marched higher. The market bias began to shift in mid-May, with the average Funding Rate reversing into the green zone. Today, the indicator is sitting at a notable positive level, suggesting that investors are betting on a bullish outcome for the cryptocurrency. Interestingly, this bias toward long positions has been maintained despite the fact that Bitcoin has retraced some of its recovery. One pullback has come in the last 24 hours, and since there has been an excess of long positions, a significant amount of liquidations related to them have followed, according to data from CoinGlass. From the above heatmap, it’s visible that Bitcoin-related positions have suffered a total of $104 million in liquidations over the past day. Out of these, more than $85 million of the contracts involved have been bullish bets. Related Reading: Render Jumps 30% As Key On-Chain Metrics Break Out If the current market trajectory continues in the near future, it’s possible that more long liquidations could follow, considering the current high value on the Funding Rate. A sharp enough decline could even trigger a long squeeze, a volatile event where a cascade of bullish liquidations is unleashed. It only remains to be seen, though, how the market will develop. BTC Price Bitcoin is back at the $75,900 mark following its latest pullback. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin is showing a monthly momentum signal that has appeared near several major cycle lows, which raises the possibility that the current correction is entering its final stage. The setup is based on the monthly logarithmic MACD histogram, where previous Bitcoin bottoms formed only when the red bars began fading for at least two straight months. The same signal may now be forming again, but there is one important catch. Bitcoin MACD Repeating Bottom Pattern The technical outlook in question is based on the monthly candlestick timeframe chart, but May has not closed yet, and Bitcoin is still trading in a fragile zone below $76,000 after failing to hold above the $80,000 region, which it broke above earlier in the month. Technical analysis done by crypto analyst Washigorira focuses on a simple but historically significant feature that involves two consecutive lighter red bars on Bitcoin’s monthly logarithmic MACD histogram. In past cycles, the darker red histogram bars showed expanding bearish momentum, while the lighter red bars showed that the downside pressure was beginning to weaken. This same pattern appeared around previous Bitcoin bottoming phases. The Bitcoin monthly candlestick chart, shown below, points to similar monthly MACD transitions in 2012, the 2015 bear market bottom, the 2019 cycle reset, and the late 2022 to early 2023 recovery phase. In each case, Bitcoin did not immediately explode higher the moment the first lighter red bar appeared, but the signal showed that sellers were losing control on the monthly timeframe. The May Close Is The Real Signal The same configuration now appears to be forming again. Bitcoin’s monthly MACD histogram turned deep red in September 2025, but April 2026 delivered the first lighter red bar since that flip, indicating that bearish momentum had started to ease. May is in progress and has not yet printed its final reading. If the month closes with a second consecutive lighter bar, the pattern will have repeated again, and Bitcoin’s bottom may already be in. “If history rhymes, the worst of the downside may already be behind us,” WashiGorira noted. On the other hand, a weak close that creates a deep red histogram again would delay the signal and keep the bear case alive. Bitcoin’s short-term price action is stuck between relief and weakness, and it is currently unclear how May will close. The cryptocurrency has held above the lower panic levels at $74,000 for now, but it has struggled to reclaim the $80,000 zone in May. Bitcoin is currently struggling with outflows from Spot Bitcoin ETFs and low spot demand on crypto exchanges. None of this necessarily breaks the technical histogram pattern WashiGorira is tracking. The bearish reading is that the pattern could still leave room for one final crash before a bottom is confirmed. Some technical analysts have warned that the Bitcoin price could still break below $50,000. Featured image from Pixabay, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin’s long-term security model is once again under the spotlight following new data from Glassnode suggesting that the network could face theoretical risks in a future dominated by quantum computing. The report shows that a significant portion of BTC’s circulating supply could be vulnerable in the future if quantum technology advances to the point where it can break current cryptographic protections. Glassnode’s Data Reveals The Scale Of Potential Future Exposure New data from Glassnode, an on-chain data analytics platform, has shed light on a potential long-term change facing Bitcoin’s security model. Crypto trader Evans revealed on X that the analysis estimates that approximately 6.04 million BTC, nearly 30% of the total BTC supply, could theoretically be at risk from future quantum computing threats. Related Reading: More Bitcoin Is Moving Into The Hands Of Long-Term Investors Amid Sideways Price Performance This is because the public keys associated with those coins have already been exposed on-chain. However, what stands out even more is that roughly 4.12 million BTC of the risk is associated with address reuse and outdated custody methods that unnecessarily increase public-key exposure. In addition, the data also indicates that centralized exchanges collectively hold more than 1.6 million BTC in potentially exposed addresses. Comparing Current Volume Collapse To The 2023 Bear Market Bitcoin spot trading volumes have collapsed by approximately 81% since October 2025, pushing market activity back to levels typically associated with bear market conditions. A Verified Author for CryptoQuant, known as Darkfost, has pointed out that to find similarly low participation, one would have to look back to July 2023, highlighting just how sharply spot volumes have declined. Related Reading: Bitcoin LTH Supply Surge Does Not Reflect Real Demand — Here’s Why Despite the broader slowdown, major exchanges like Binance continue to dominate the market with $36.4 billion in trading volume, and recorded $198.6 billion in October 2025. Therefore, volumes are nearly 5 times lower in the current market, representing 81% decline, and Binance is far from an isolated case. Meanwhile, Gate.io has also seen a massive 79.6% drop in volumes, and Bybit is down 66%. This development primarily reflects a macro environment that has been unfavorable for risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. The persistently rising inflationary pressures and the prolonged US-Iran tensions have pushed investors toward preferred commodities and traditional equity indices over crypto markets. According to Darkfost, this dynamic can also be interpreted constructively. The sharp decline in trading activity shows that the selling pressure behind the current retracement is gradually losing momentum. Historically, prolonged periods of weak spot volume have often coincided with the later stages of market corrections, when selling pressure begins to exhaust itself, and speculative excess is flushed from the system. Notably, a similar collapse in trading activity occurred near the end of the 2023 bear market before volatility returned and the bullish trend recovered. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Memory chip stocks are attracting capital and attention as crypto markets settle into apathy.
The new earn product lets users generate BTC-denominated rewards through DeFi strategies while keeping exposure to bitcoin’s price.
Bitcoin’s weak 2026 performance has coincided with sharp gains in metals and semiconductor giants, raising concerns that the cryptocurrency could continue losing ground.
The big sale happened amid a broader continued exodus from U.S.-listed spot bitcoin ETFs.
BTC's three-month uptrend against gold has broken down amid strong inflows into gold and precious metals ETFs.
Ran Neuner says Bitcoin’s chart structure is starting to resemble the breakdown pattern that preceded the 2022 capitulation, with one key difference: this time, he argues, Michael Saylor’s Strategy may be the market’s most important marginal buyer. Speaking with Scott Melker in a May 24 interview, Neuner said Bitcoin is sitting inside a “very scary structure,” pointing to what he described as a bear flag that has failed to resolve higher. His concern is not only technical. It is also tied to whether Strategy can keep raising capital through STRC, a preferred-stock instrument that Neuner believes has become central to Saylor’s ability to buy more Bitcoin. “If history repeats, right, then we should break down or could break down below this,” Neuner said, referring to Bitcoin’s current chart pattern. “I hate saying it because look, I don’t even want to admit it to myself, but I mean definitely it’s going down to the $40ks or $50ks if it happens.” The argument rests on a comparison with 2022. Neuner said Bitcoin previously dropped, formed a bear flag, retested the 200-day moving average, and then suffered a deeper leg lower after failing to reclaim the structure. He said the present setup looks like a “mirror image,” with Bitcoin again testing the bear-flag region and the 200-day moving average before rolling back into the range. Related Reading: Bitcoin Sell Pressure Rising? Binance Inflows Hit 10-Day Streak But the sharper part of Neuner’s thesis concerns Strategy’s funding engine. He argued that Saylor’s recent Bitcoin purchases have depended heavily on STRC trading back toward $100 ahead of its ex-dividend date, allowing Strategy to issue shares, raise capital and deploy the proceeds into Bitcoin. The problem, in Neuner’s view, is that the window for that trade has been narrowing. “Last month in May, it only pegged at 100 on the 11th of May when the XD date was the 15th of May,” Neuner said. “Whereas in the previous months, it pegged on the 25th of the previous month. So it should have pegged, if it was going to keep the trend, on the 25th of April. It only pegged on the 11th of May, right? Which meant that he only had four days to raise money.” Neuner said that matters because Bitcoin’s recent rallies appeared to line up with periods when Strategy had more time to raise capital and buy. If STRC spends fewer days near $100, he argued, the market may begin to discount the absence of its largest recurring buyer. Related Reading: Bitcoin Rally Faces Fresh Test As Demand Metric Hits 2026 Low “If we carry on like last month and we have another month where he can’t raise money, eventually the market’s going to start discounting the fact that Saylor is not in the market anymore on STRC,” Neuner said. “Your biggest buyer at the moment is not in the market anymore.” Melker pushed back on the idea that STRC would collapse without a major credit event, noting that the product is linked to Strategy and indirectly backed by its Bitcoin position. Neuner did not describe STRC as a Ponzi or suggest wrongdoing. His concern was more mechanical: he said he does not understand why the instrument must trade at $100 when holders still receive the dividend below that level. The discussion also widened into macro risks. Neuner cited rising Treasury yields, sticky inflation, oil prices, and the possibility that large SpaceX and OpenAI IPOs could drain liquidity from risk assets. He said Treasury yields and equities cannot both keep rising indefinitely, arguing that “one of them has to give.” At press time, Bitcoin traded at $77,033. Featured image created with DALL.E, chart from TradingView.com
The Bitcoin price is under renewed pressure as a crypto analyst warns the market could be heading for a sharp correction toward $52,000. According to the analyst, a Head and Shoulders formation has appeared on the chart, a technical pattern often associated with potential trend reversals and downside momentum. The setup suggests that if bearish pressure continues to build, the leading cryptocurrency could be at risk of a significant near-term crash, raising fresh concerns across the broader market. Bitcoin Price Forecasted To Crash To $52,000 A crypto analyst, identified as NoName on X, has warned that Bitcoin could be heading toward another price crash near $52,000. The analyst pointed to a Head & Shoulder pattern that has been forming on the chart since 2024 and continued even after BTC recorded its all-time high above $126,000 in October. Related Reading: Bitcoin Bulls Are Back In Action And They’re Looking To Close This CME Gap The chart showed that Bitcoin recently experienced a failed breakdown after completing the right shoulder of its H&S formation. After this breakdown, BTC’s price began climbing back up, with the goal of reclaiming the $100,000 level. Interestingly, NoName noted that many traders had turned bullish once Bitcoin began its bounce, first from the $70,000 range. However, once its price moved toward the $82,000 psychological resistance level, BTC was rejected, confirming underlying weakness in the cryptocurrency’s market trend and structure. NoName further noted that the combination of a broken support and strong resistance indicates that sellers are still largely in control of the BTC market. The analyst added that Bitcoin’s recent move toward $83,000 may have looked like a sustained bullish rally to many investors, but it was not a true recovery. Instead, he described it as a temporary pause in price action that usually comes before further downside pressure. Given the current market weakness and ongoing bear market, NoName has projected that Bitcoin could eventually tumble toward $52,000 if the H&S pattern continues to play out. He also warned that if selling pressure intensifies, Bitcoin could plummet even lower toward a final downside floor near $30,000, as highlighted by the red-shaded area on the chart. At current levels above $76,000, a decline to this area would represent a massive price crash of more than 60%. Analysts Share Similar Bearish Outlooks Bitcoin is facing growing bearish sentiment as more analysts forecast downside targets for the leading cryptocurrency. Market analyst Chiefy recently shared a bearish outlook on X, highlighting a recurring four-year cycle pattern on the BTC chart. Related Reading: Historical Performance Says Bitcoin Price Will Not Bottom Until It Touches This Level The crypto expert stated that during those historical cyclical periods, BTC had moved through a repeated sequence of bull phase, distribution, capitulation, and cycle bottom. According to the analyst, the current market cycle is now entering the most dangerous phase of that sequence. Chiefy noted that Bitcoin is approaching a level where its key support could break. He warned that losing that support could lead to stronger downside pressure and increased panic selling across the market. As a result, the analyst has projected a potential decline to $50,000 if the current cycle continues to follow historical patterns. He noted that this region aligns with the capitulation phase seen in earlier four-year cycles. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin is facing renewed selling pressure as uncertainty continues dominating global financial markets, but bulls have so far managed to defend the critical $75,000 region. The asset remains trapped below key resistance levels after failing to reclaim momentum above $80,000 earlier this month, leaving traders searching for signs that the current correction is either stabilizing or preparing for another leg lower. Related Reading: HYPE Rally Accelerates Above $60 As High-Profile Whale Quietly Builds His Position While the recent weakness has raised concerns across the market, top analyst Darkfost believes one of the most important signals is not price itself — but the dramatic collapse in spot trading activity happening beneath the surface. According to data from Darkfost, Bitcoin spot trading volumes have now fallen to levels historically associated with bear markets. The analyst notes that investors must go back to July 2023 to find a period where BTC spot volumes were this low across major exchanges. Binance, which remains the dominant venue in the crypto market, currently processes around $36.4 billion in trading volume. In October 2025, that figure stood at approximately $198.6 billion. Bitcoin Spot Trading Volume | Source: CryptoQuant The collapse is severe. Binance volumes are now nearly five times lower than they were at the cycle peak, representing an 81% decline. Other exchanges show similar weakness, with Gateio volumes falling nearly 80% and Bybit recording a 66% drop in activity. Bitcoin Volume Collapse May Signal Seller Exhaustion Darkfost explains that the collapse in Bitcoin spot trading activity reflects a broader macroeconomic environment that has become increasingly hostile toward risk assets such as cryptocurrencies. Rising inflationary pressures, persistent uncertainty surrounding global monetary policy, and the US/Iran conflict lasting longer than markets initially expected have pushed investors toward safer or more traditional assets. Commodities, energy markets, and major equity indices have absorbed a large portion of capital flows that previously rotated into crypto during periods of stronger risk appetite. The result has been a sharp contraction in participation across spot crypto markets. Lower trading activity often reflects declining enthusiasm, weaker speculative demand, and reduced institutional engagement. However, Darkfost argues that the current setup may not be entirely bearish from a structural perspective. Related Reading: The Institutional Bitcoin Exit Is Real: Analyst Exposes Who’s On The Wrong Side Of The Trade Historically, prolonged declines in spot volume have frequently coincided with the later stages of corrective phases rather than the beginning of major collapses. As participation fades, aggressive selling pressure also begins to weaken because fewer market participants remain actively distributing positions into the market. The analysis points specifically to the 2023 bear market structure, where spot volumes collapsed to similarly depressed levels shortly before Bitcoin stabilized and volatility returned. That period of extreme inactivity ultimately became the foundation for the recovery phase that followed, as exhausted sellers gradually lost control of the market. Bitcoin Holds Above Key Support As Bulls Defend The $75K Region Bitcoin continues trading above the critical $75,000 support region despite persistent selling pressure and weakening market participation. The daily chart shows BTC consolidating near $76,800 after rejecting from the $82,000 resistance zone earlier this month, with price now trapped between major moving averages as traders wait for a decisive breakout or breakdown. Bitcoin consolidates above key price level | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView Technically, Bitcoin remains above the 50-day moving average, which is currently acting as short-term support around the mid-$75,000 area. That level has become structurally important because it aligns closely with the broader horizontal demand zone between approximately $73,000 and $75,000 highlighted on the chart. Bulls have repeatedly defended this region throughout May, preventing sellers from regaining full control of the trend. Related Reading: FET Exchange Supply Is Quietly Disappearing – Discover Why Traders Are Watching Closely However, the broader structure still reflects caution. The 100-day and 200-day moving averages continue sloping downward overhead, reinforcing the idea that Bitcoin remains inside a larger corrective environment despite the recovery from February’s capitulation lows near $63,000. For now, Bitcoin remains in a compression phase. A decisive reclaim of the $80,000–$82,000 region would strengthen bullish momentum, while losing the $75,000 support zone could expose BTC to a deeper retrace toward the $70,000 area. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
Oil prices and bond yields have opened the week sharply lower following President Trump's weekend announcement of an imminent Middle East agreement.
ASST climbs 133% in three months as Strive grows holdings to 16,500 BTC and explores fresh capital raising options.
Michael Saylor and team funded the repurchases using cash as it restructures liabilities tied to its BTC treasury strategy.
CryptoQuant’s 30-day apparent demand indicator is negative, signaling that buyers aren’t absorbing the available supply and leaving the market vulnerable.
Digital asset investment products shed $1.47 billion in a single week — the second consecutive week of outflows and the third-largest weekly withdrawal of 2026 — as Iran-related geopolitical risk collided with rising bond yields, a softening equity market, and the fading of a technical support structure that had kept Bitcoin pinned near $80,000 for most of the month, according to CoinShares’ latest Digital Asset Fund Flows report. Related Reading: XRP Crowd Fear Deepens As Santiment Points To Possible Rebound Bitcoin bore the brunt. The asset recorded $1.315 billion in outflows — the largest single-week Bitcoin withdrawal of 2026, surpassing the late January peak — pulling year-to-date inflows down to $2.6 billion from $3.9 billion the prior week, per CoinShares’ Volume 287 report authored by James Butterfill. The speed of the reversal underscores how quickly 2026’s cumulative inflow position can compress when risk appetite deteriorates. Two weeks ago that figure stood at $4.9 billion. It has now shed nearly half in a fortnight. Ethereum followed with $222.8 million in outflows, broadly in line with the prior week. Blockchain equity ETFs were also caught in the selloff, recording $133 million in aggregate outflows. The US dominated the regional picture with $1.425 billion in outflows — the vast majority of the global total — while Switzerland added $16.2 million, Canada $12.5 million, and Hong Kong $12.2 million, per the report. Germany was effectively flat. BTC's price trends to the upside since April 2026, as seen on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview Why The Money Left Bitcoin — QCP’s Breakdown The mechanics behind the outflow are detailed in QCP Capital’s latest Market Colour note, which frames the week’s price action as the product of two converging forces: a technical support structure that expired and a macro backdrop that turned hostile simultaneously. On the technical side, dealer long gamma — particularly in IBIT options — had suppressed volatility and helped anchor Bitcoin near $80,000 through most of May. Friday’s options expiry rolled off more than $4 billion of IBIT contracts, removing that floor. Bitcoin broke below $78,000 shortly after, per QCP’s analysis. The macro environment that greeted the breakdown was unforgiving. US 10-year Treasury yields sit at 4.62% and the 30-year at 5.14% — fresh cycle highs. USD/JPY has pushed into the 158–159 range, approaching the 160 level where Bank of Japan intervention risk and yen-carry unwind fears historically intensify. Equities pulled back. Oil prices rose. CPI ran hot. Markets now price a 50% to 60% probability that the Fed’s benchmark rate will be 25 basis points higher by January, per QCP’s assessment — a material shift in rate expectations that makes risk assets broadly less attractive. The One Bright Spot For Not everything moved in the same direction. Nine assets still recorded meaningful inflows above $1 million, suggesting CLARITY Act legislative progress cushioned the broader risk-off tone at the margin, per CoinShares. XRP led altcoin inflows at $31.8 million, followed by Solana at $7.7 million, Near Protocol at $9 million — notable given its $74 million total AuM — Sui at $2.9 million, and multi-asset products at $4.7 million. The selective nature of the altcoin inflows points to a market where investors are rotating toward specific narratives rather than exiting crypto entirely. Crypto market records spike in outflows across its digital investment products. Source: CoinShares QCP’s near-term outlook is cautious but not catastrophic. Until clearer tariff resolution or US-Iran headlines emerge, crypto is likely to remain in a grinding range, per the firm’s note. Front-end volatility spiked on the breakdown but is already being faded — and call overwriters may soon return to pin spot near current levels. The key scheduled events this week — FOMC Minutes on Wednesday, NVIDIA earnings the same day, and Flash PMIs on Thursday — each carry the potential to shift the macro narrative in either direction. This development marks a critical juncture for the Bitcoin near-term price trajectory. Two consecutive weeks of outflows totaling $2.54 billion, arriving just as technical support has faded and macro headwinds are building, is the kind of setup that tests the conviction of institutional holders who entered on the way up — and the next few sessions will determine whether that conviction holds. Related Reading: Dogecoin Must Hold This Level To Avoid Drop To $0.088, Analyst Says As of this writing, Bitcoin trades at around $82,000, attempting to stabilize above the $78,000 level that broke last week as the market awaits the macro catalysts that QCP and CoinShares both identify as the next directional trigger. Cover image from Grok, BTCUSD Chart from Tradingview
Heavy supply concentration and large options positioning continue to suppress volatility and keep bitcoin range-bound.
Bitcoin’s recent drop below key support may have been more than just a bearish breakdown. As price quickly recovers important levels and market structure remains intact on higher timeframes, the move could have been a classic fakeout designed to shake out weak hands before the next major rally begins. Bitcoin Fakeout Below Key Support May Have Trapped Weak Hands According to Cryptic Trades, Bitcoin’s recent price action involved a brief deviation below a critical high-timeframe support range, a move that aligns closely with the bottoming structure established in April 2025. This technical breach appears to be a calculated market maneuver, functioning primarily as a fakeout intended to flush out overleveraged positions, not long-term investors. Related Reading: Bitcoin Struggles Below Resistance While Fibonacci Support Comes Into Focus These recurring liquidity sweeps serve a specific purpose: they are designed to trigger long-side stop-losses before a more structural reversal can take hold. As market conditions evolve over the coming days, the analyst is monitoring one final key Point of Interest (POI) before systematically scaling out of active hedges. Despite the successful recovery and subsequent reclaim of the high-timeframe support zone, the asset has yet to overcome the 1D Bull Market Support Band situated near the $78,500 level. Historically, this band has functioned as a robust reversal zone over the past several months, making it the primary technical hurdle that bulls must clear to demonstrate genuine strength. Should the price reclaim the $78,500 threshold, the outlook would shift to a full bullish bias on the lower timeframes, confirming the recent dip as a mere tactical fakeout rather than a deeper correction. For now, the analyst maintains a cautiously bullish stance, awaiting a more durable continuation to the upside. Bitcoin Buy Signal Remains Active Despite Market Volatility Lourenço VS reflected on the performance of a trading strategy, noting that a custom indicator has remained steady since triggering a buy signal. The expert designed this tool specifically to avoid getting trapped by the choppiness of false signals. As the system patiently navigates through these minor fluctuations, Lourenço is maintaining a position with confidence. Related Reading: Bitcoin Recovery Above Key Cost Basis Level Fails As BTC Falls Under $77,000 Another weekly candle has successfully closed above the mid-Bollinger line. Market skeptics continue to draw parallels between current conditions and the spring and summer of 2022, but the comparison is fundamentally flawed because it never occurred during that period. Even with recent price pullbacks and inevitable volatility, the market continues to post consistent 3-day candle closes above the crucial bull market support band. This ongoing resilience at such a key technical level serves as a strong indicator that the fundamental trend remains firmly tilted to the upside. While the skeptics refuse to acknowledge the incoming momentum, the market seems to be coiling up for its next significant move. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Enflux says “the bid is there” but no one is adding size, while Glassnode data shows easing selling pressure alongside weaker market activity.
A closely watched on-chain indicator has returned to a range that has marked major turning points in Bitcoin’s price history, and some analysts say the setup looks familiar. The Bitcoin Fund Flow Ratio on Binance has dropped to between 0.010 and 0.012 — a level reached only five other times since 2018, each preceding a significant recovery. Related Reading: Bitcoin Bull Thesis Goes Big: 39 Trillion Reasons To Buy, Says Gemini Founder The metric tracks how much Bitcoin activity is happening on exchanges relative to the broader network. When the ratio falls, it means fewer coins are moving to exchanges, which typically signals weaker selling pressure. Analyst MorenoDV, citing CryptoQuant data, described the current setup as a “decision zone.” Bitcoin could stay weak if demand remains low, or selling exhaustion could quietly lay the groundwork for the next move up. When Attention Fades, Bears Feel Safe That idea runs through a broader argument being made by market commentators right now. Rand Group, posting on X, pointed to Bitcoin’s Sell-Side Risk Ratio chart and argued that some of the asset’s most explosive moves came right after periods when almost nobody was paying attention. Every time “no one cares about Bitcoin” it bounces the hardest Are you paying attention or nah? pic.twitter.com/r7iSTorbgV — Rand Group (@randgroup) May 22, 2026 Historical data backs that up. Reports indicate that similar low-interest phases lined up with Bitcoin trading near $3,000 in late 2018, around $9,000 in 2020, and close to $25,000 in 2023 — all of which turned out to be bottoms before sharp upward moves. Each time, selling pressure had dried up before buyers returned in force. Macro analyst Brian Truong expanded on the pattern, saying that low attention combined with fading sell pressure has historically created the conditions for sudden reversals. Bears feel confident. Then the market moves against them. Bitcoin’s Fund Flow Ratio Returns to the Zone That’s Marked Every Major Turn “Bitcoin is approaching a decision zone: either demand remains weak, and the compression reflects apathy, or sell-side exhaustion becomes the foundation for the next recovery phase.” – By @MorenoDV_ pic.twitter.com/mox08h9etV — CryptoQuant.com (@cryptoquant_com) May 22, 2026 ETF Outflows Cloud The Picture The bullish on-chain signals, though, are colliding with real short-term pressure. Bitcoin dropped 3.50% in 24 hours to $74,750, dragged down by institutional selling and heavy outflows from US spot Bitcoin ETFs — roughly $1.4 billion pulled out over the past week alone. Related Reading: History Shows Bitcoin ETF Outflows Favor Accumulation, Says Santiment Rising yields are adding to the weight. The 30-year US Treasury yield has climbed above 5%, making traditional fixed-income assets more attractive compared to non-yielding ones like Bitcoin. Still, some analysts believe the broader picture matters more right now than the day-to-day price action. Based on reports, the same combination of low exchange flow and reduced market noise has preceded every major recovery Bitcoin has staged over the past several years. Featured image from Unsplash, chart from TradingView
On-chain data shows a net amount of Bitcoin has been flowing into Binance for 10 days now, a potential sign that investors have been looking to sell. Bitcoin Exchange Netflow Has Remained Positive For Binance Recently As pointed out by CryptoQuant author Darkfrost in an X post, investors have been depositing their Bitcoin to Binance recently. The on-chain metric of relevance here is the “Exchange Netflow,” which tracks the total amount of BTC that’s currently moving into or out of the wallets connected to a centralized exchange. When the value of the metric is positive, it means holders are transferring a net number of tokens to the platform. As one of the main reasons why investors deposit to exchanges is for selling-related purposes, this kind of trend can have a bearish implication for the asset’s price. Related Reading: Bitcoin Bull Run ‘Not There Yet,’ Warns CryptoQuant Founder On the other hand, the indicator being below the zero mark suggests withdrawals are dominating deposits on the exchange. Such a trend can be a sign that investors are accumulating, which can naturally be bullish for BTC. Now, here is the chart shared by Darkfrost that shows the trend in the Bitcoin Exchange Netflow for Binance, the largest platform by trading volume, over the past ten days: As displayed in the above graph, the Binance Bitcoin Exchange Netflow has remained at a positive level throughout this window, implying net inflows have been occurring. The scale of the inflows has varied each day, but there has been an overall surge in the amount of BTC being deposited to the exchange during the last 10 days. More specifically, May 16th saw a net 378 BTC enter Binance-associated wallets, while today the same figure has risen to 1,190 BTC. This means that inflows have more than tripled over the period. “The largest single day recorded over 3,600 BTC on May 18th, a relatively high level for a single day that clearly illustrates the intensity of the movement,” noted the analyst. Related Reading: Not Bitcoin: US Government Bets $2 Billion On Quantum Instead The sustained deposits have meant that the Exchange Reserve of Binance (that is, the total amount of Bitcoin sitting on the platform) has followed an uptrend recently. From the chart, it’s apparent that the Bitcoin Exchange Reserve on Binance hit a low of 616,000 BTC on April 24th. The metric has since surged to 632,000 BTC, suggesting a net inflow of 16,000 BTC into the exchange. “When inflows become dominant and consistent on a platform like Binance, this is traditionally interpreted as a potential sell signal,” said Darkfrost. BTC Price At the time of writing, Bitcoin is trading around $77,400, unchanged from one week ago. Featured image from Dall-E, chart from TradingView.com
Crypto pundit Ardizor has alleged that several crypto firms appear to be dumping Bitcoin, which is why the BTC price keeps crashing. The leading crypto had crashed over the weekend but is now recovering on hopes of a U.S.-Iran deal. Why The BTC Price Keeps Crashing In an X post, Ardizor stated that the BTC price was dumping because crypto exchanges Binance, Coinbase, and Bybit, along with whales and Wintermute, were selling millions of BTC. He claimed that they have sold over $2 billion worth of BTC and further alleged that it was a “pure, coordinated dump,” which usually comes after the U.S. market opens. Related Reading: Everyone Is Calling For Lower Bitcoin Price: Why This Is The Perfect Time To Go Parabolic The pundit cited on-chain flows from these crypto exchanges’ hot wallets as evidence that they were dumping Bitcoin. The latest dump in the BTC price came over the weekend, with the leading crypto falling below $75,000 after the SEC was reported to have delayed its decision on tokenized stocks due to regulatory concerns. Bitcoin also dropped as market participants further priced in the possibility of a Fed rate hike this year. However, the BTC price is recovering again following the crash below $75,000, on the back of optimism that the U.S. and Iran may be nearing a deal to end the war. U.S. President Donald Trump had said over the weekend that the draft deal had been largely negotiated, signaling that they could announce a peace deal soon. Furthermore, the BTC price and the broader crypto market are also recovering on the back of the decline in oil prices. Oil prices have dropped after Trump said the Strait of Hormuz will reopen under this deal, a move that could also ease inflationary pressures. What’s Next For Bitcoin Crypto analyst Ted Pillows noted that the BTC price closed above $75,000, and now the key zone to reclaim is between $77,500 and $78,000, with a rally towards the psychological $80,000 zone. He warned that if Bitcoin fails to hold above $78,000, it will likely sweep the $75,000 zone again. Meanwhile, crypto analyst Max noted that many low-leverage long liquidations were wiped out on the BTC price decline below $75,000. He stated that this now leaves only one decent cluster below, which will get swept if the price takes out the previous low at $74,200. At the same time, he pointed to another cluster around the $80,000 mark. Related Reading: Bitcoin Price Breaks 14-Year Support For The First Time In History, Analyst Predicts $50,000 Target The analyst acknowledged that a retest of the $80,000 range was still possible from a liquidity perspective, but that the current market structure favors another sweep lower. In line with this, Max said he expects the liquidity below to be taken out this week, unless the BTC price prints a higher high, invalidating the bearish structure. At the time of writing, the Bitcoin price is trading at around $77,300, up in the last 24 hours, according to data from CoinMarketCap. Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com
Bitcoin is struggling to push above $78,000 as the market faces uncertainty that has made directional conviction difficult to sustain. The price is grinding. Not breaking down catastrophically, but not advancing either. A CryptoOnchain report combining US Spot ETF flow data with Binance on-chain metrics has identified a structural divergence beneath the surface. Explaining why the recovery has stalled at precisely the moment it should be building momentum. Related Reading: FET Exchange Supply Is Quietly Disappearing – Discover Why Traders Are Watching Closely The report’s opening finding is the most alarming available in the current market structure. Over the past two weeks, US Spot Bitcoin ETFs have recorded net outflows exceeding $1.74 billion. The institutional bid that drove the most significant phase of Bitcoin’s recovery from the cycle lows has not simply paused — it has reversed. Wall Street is not buying the dip. It is selling into whatever strength the market produces. The Coinbase Premium Gap confirms the institutional withdrawal with independent evidence. The premium — which measures the price difference between Coinbase and offshore exchanges and functions as the most direct available gauge of US institutional spot demand — has crashed by 948% on a 90-day comparison, falling deep into negative territory. Two separate data points, measuring the same phenomenon from different angles, arrive at the same conclusion simultaneously. The institution that was buying Bitcoin is no longer buying Bitcoin. What CryptoOnchain has identified is who stepped in to take the other side of that exit — and the answer is the most alarming element of what the data is currently showing. Four Data Points That Show Who Is Selling The CryptoOnchain report traces exactly where the $1.74 billion in institutional supply is going after it leaves the ETF structure. Binance BTC Netflows have surged 425% above the 90-day baseline — a massive wall of spot supply arriving on the world’s largest exchange simultaneously. The composition of that supply adds the detail that removes any ambiguity about who is selling: coins aged six to twelve months are moving at a rate 450% above their historical baseline — the classic on-chain fingerprint of holders who accumulated during last year’s recovery and are now taking profits as institutional demand evaporates beneath them. The Great US Bitcoin Exodus | Source: CryptoQuant The dry powder that would be needed to absorb the incoming Bitcoin supply is not there. Supply is arriving. Buying power is leaving. The imbalance between those two flows is the structural condition that precedes forced price adjustment. The retail positioning data completes the picture — and it is the most alarming element of the four. Despite $1.74 billion in ETF outflows, a Coinbase Premium in deep negative territory, and a network valuation metric that has spiked 1,900% above baseline, Binance Funding Rates remain structurally positive at 434% above the norm. Retail traders are paying a premium to stay leveraged long in a market where institutional spot demand has collapsed, supply is flooding exchanges, and buying power has evaporated. The CryptoOnchain conclusion is direct. Heavy ETF outflows, shrinking stablecoin liquidity, and crowded retail longs have historically created the conditions for severe downward liquidation cascades. The structure is in place. The trigger — a return of institutional buying through positive ETF flows and a recovering Coinbase Premium — has not yet appeared. Related Reading: Kevin Warsh’s Fed Era Could Change Bitcoin Forever – Here’s The First Signal To Watch Bitcoin Consolidates Below $78K Bitcoin continues consolidating below the critical $78,000 resistance zone after failing to sustain momentum above the May highs near $82,000. The daily chart shows a market caught between weakening bullish momentum and still-active buyer support, creating a tightening structure that increasingly resembles a decision point rather than a stable consolidation. Bitcoin struggling below $78K level | Source: BTCUSDT chart on TradingView Technically, BTC remains above the 50-day moving average near the $75,000 region, which is currently acting as the market’s primary short-term support. Buyers have repeatedly defended this level during the recent pullback, preventing the price from revisiting the broader demand zone between $71,000 and $73,000 highlighted on the chart. That area now represents the most important structural support for the current recovery trend. Related Reading: Chainlink Sees Historic On-Chain Surge While Exchange Supply Keeps Shrinking – Details However, the inability to reclaim the descending 200-day moving average near the low-$80,000 region continues to limit upside expansion. Bitcoin briefly pushed into that resistance area earlier this month before sellers aggressively absorbed the breakout attempt, triggering a retrace back toward current levels. As long as BTC holds above $75,000, the broader recovery structure remains intact. But losing that level decisively would likely expose the market to a deeper correction toward the $71,000 support range. Featured image from ChatGPT, chart from TradingView.com
Bitcoin’s latest price action has run into a technical wall, and crypto analyst Merlijn The Trader believes the rejection could become more serious if one nearby support level fails. Particularly, technical analysis shows that the price action looks uncomfortably close to a crash under $76,000. Bitcoin’s 200-Day Moving Average Has Become The First Major Rejection Zone Bitcoin reached $82,400 on May 6 before stalling at the 200-day moving average, pulling back to as low as $74,000 during the most recent weekend. Merlijn’s chart analysis compares this current 2026 setup on the daily candlestick timeframe with Bitcoin’s 2022 structure. Related Reading: What Goldman Sachs Dumping Its XRP Stash Means For Holders Looking at the 2022 example, Bitcoin pushed into the 200-day moving average around $48,000 in early April, failed to hold that level, and then continued lower until the price fell to as low as $28,000 in May. That move turned out to be a decline of about 40% from the rejection area. The current chart shows a similar technical idea, although the price levels are different. Bitcoin recently attempted to recover into $80,000 in the middle of May, but the red 200-day moving average acted as a ceiling. The rejection from that zone has placed the focus on the short-term support around $76,000, which Merlijn identified as the level to watch. If $76,000 breaks, then Bitcoin could play out a price action similar to the 2022 one. Bitcoin Price Chart. Source: @MerlijnTrader On X Losing $76,000 Could Speed Up Drop Below $67,000 According to analysts at K33 Research, Bitcoin’s rejection at the 200-day moving average mirrors patterns seen during previous market cycles in 2014, 2018, and 2022.The most important level for Bitcoin bulls to hold now is $76,000. A move below $76,000 would weaken the pattern because it would erase the higher-low structure that formed after Bitcoin’s push from the mid-$70,000 range in May. “Lose it, the move accelerates,” the analyst said. Related Reading: Pundit Predicts What Will Happen To XRP When Exchanges Run Out Of Supply If $76,000 breaks, Merlijn has a clear first downside target: the $67,000 CME gap. CME gaps form because Bitcoin is always trading continuously on crypto exchanges even on weekends, but CME futures pause during weekends and market closures. A gap can appear on the chart when futures reopen at a different price from where they closed, and most of the time, this gap always acts as a price magnet. Right now, Bitcoin is trading at $77,233, which means it has not confirmed the bearish follow-through Merlijn is warning about. However, as long as Bitcoin keeps trading below the 200-day moving average and keeps pressing against $76,000, then there’s a possibility that it will fall to the $67,000 CME gap. On the other hand, a reclaim of the $79,000 to $80,000 range this week would reduce the immediate risk of a crash to $67,000. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
A New York man identified in court documents only as Noah Doe has filed a lawsuit in the Supreme Court of the State of New York seeking legal ownership of 39,069 abandoned Bitcoin wallets — assets he discovered using a self-developed algorithm, reported to the NYPD in compliance with lost and found property law, and spent over a year attempting to return to their rightful owners before filing suit. Related Reading: American Mega Bank Is Dumping Its Ethereum Holdings, Here’s What It’s Buying The First Amended Complaint, filed May 1, 2026, under index number 153119/2026 and filed through Brooklyn-based law firm Lewis & Lin LLC, lays out one of the most unusual property cases in crypto’s short legal history. Noah Doe is not a hacker. He is not a thief. Under New York Personal Property Law Article 7-B, he is arguing he is a finder — and that title to the abandoned wallets vested in him by operation of law after all reasonable efforts to locate their owners failed. How He Found The Bitcoin The story begins in October 2024, when Noah Doe identified what the complaint describes as a security vulnerability affecting digital wallets — a flaw that caused owners to lose their ability to withdraw contents, leading them to abandon the Bitcoin wallets entirely. In response, he developed what the filing calls “the Algorithm” — criteria and methods for identifying wallets meeting the legal standard for abandonment: dormant or inactive for at least five years, self-custodied rather than held by an exchange, and unresponsive through multiple periods of significant cryptocurrency price appreciation that any reasonable owner would have acted on. Between December 26, 2024 and April 14, 2025, Noah Doe ran his Algorithm and identified three separate batches of found wallets — 1,544 in December, 546 in March, and 39,911 in April — all using his personal computer in New York City. Each time, within days of discovery, he physically brought a USB drive containing the wallet addresses to the NYPD’s 17th Precinct, where officers issued receipts and property invoices, per the complaint. The NYPD took custody of each drive before returning them months later. BTC's price trends to the upside on the daily chart. Source: BTCUSD on Tradingview A Year Of Outreach Before Court What followed was an extensive, documented effort to return the wallets to their owners — conducted entirely at Noah Doe’s personal expense, per the filing. He engaged an independent expert to assess the wallets’ value — concluded at less than $10 at the time of finding given recovery uncertainty — a strategic consultant named Salomon Brothers Strategic Advisors Inc., and a separate cyber and blockchain expert to independently verify the wallets existed on-chain and had been dormant for at least five years. In late June 2025, the blockchain expert transmitted an OP_RETURN message — a technique that inserts a token into a wallet’s transaction record — to every single found wallet, directing holders to an abandonment notice webpage hosted by Salomon Brothers. The notice gave holders 90 days, until October 10, 2025, to claim ownership. A global press release followed on August 7, reaching an estimated 820 media outlets across 37 countries and up to 225 million people through direct and secondary impressions, per the complaint. Coverage included CoinDesk, Bitcoinist, Yahoo Finance, and Investing.com. Galaxy Digital separately circulated a report to its clients on the abandonment notice. Of the 42,001 total wallets found, 2,932 were subsequently removed — including 424 that took on-chain action to demonstrate they had not been abandoned. The remaining 39,069 Bitcoin wallets took no action and are the subject of the lawsuit. The Legal Question The complaint seeks a declaratory judgment — not damages, not criminal prosecution, but a judicial declaration that Noah Doe and his two assignee companies, identified as ABC Company and XYZ Company, are the legal owners of the 39,069 Abandoned Wallets and their contents under New York Personal Property Law. On December 1, 2025, Noah Doe transferred ownership rights in all but 18 of the wallets to ABC Company, which subsequently transferred 17.7% to XYZ Company. All three plaintiffs are parties to the suit. Related Reading: Bitcoin Rally Faces Fresh Test As Demand Metric Hits 2026 Low This case marks a pivotal and genuinely unprecedented moment for the nascent sector’s intersection with property law. A New York court is now being asked to rule on whether self-custodied Bitcoin wallets — dormant for six years or more, found through a proprietary algorithm, reported to police, and subjected to a year of documented outreach — constitute lost property under existing New York law, and whether their finder can legally claim title. The outcome could establish a legal framework with consequences far beyond this single case. Cover image from Grok, BTCUSD chart from Tradingview
Ethereum is losing ground inside one of America’s largest banking portfolios as Bank of America sharply pivots toward Bitcoin-linked investment products. Fresh SEC filings from the banking giant reveal a noticeable reshuffling of its crypto exposure during the first quarter, with Ethereum and Solana positions reduced while Bitcoin allocations expanded aggressively through spot ETFs and indirect treasury exposure. Ethereum Retreats, Bitcoin Expands The latest 13F filing from Bank of America paints a clear picture of where institutional conviction is shifting. While the bank still maintains exposure across several crypto-related products, recent reports indicate that Bitcoin now dominates its digital asset strategy by a wide margin. Related Reading: Bitcoin Upper Trendline Resistance Is Holding Price Back, Can It Push It Below $60,000? Analyst Answers At the center of that move is BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT), which became the bank’s largest crypto holding after a substantial increase during the quarter. Regulatory documents show Bank of America lifted its IBIT exposure to roughly $37 million, making the ETF responsible for nearly 70% of the bank’s crypto investment portfolio while holding 972,590 shares of the fund. At the same time, exposure tied to Ethereum products moved in the opposite direction. The filing reflected a reduction in Ethereum-linked allocations alongside cuts to Solana-related investment products. Smaller holdings connected to XRP and Solana ETFs also appeared in the disclosure, though the bank’s allocation toward those products remained comparatively limited. Rather than spreading capital evenly across the digital asset market, the portfolio changes suggest Bank of America is concentrating on Bitcoin as the preferred institutional-grade crypto asset. Moreover, the bank also maintained positions in Fidelity’s FBTC, Bitwise’s BITB, and several Grayscale Bitcoin products. However, none came close to the scale of the IBIT allocation, reinforcing Bitcoin’s growing dominance within the institution’s crypto strategy. Wall Street’s New Favorite Trade Bank of America’s repositioning did not happen in isolation. Across Wall Street, major financial firms are quietly increasing Bitcoin exposure even as broader crypto markets remain volatile. The filing also revealed that Bank of America owns nearly 3.96 million shares of MicroStrategy, a position valued at roughly $660 million. Because the software company continues accumulating Bitcoin as its primary treasury reserve asset, the investment gives the bank another layer of indirect Bitcoin exposure beyond ETFs alone. Related Reading: The Last Time Bitcoin Printed This Ugly Candle, It Tanked; Now It Has Returned Other financial giants are moving in a similar direction. Morgan Stanley reportedly holds one of the largest spot crypto ETF portfolios among traditional banks, with more than $1 billion tied to regulated digital asset products. Goldman Sachs has also maintained sizable positions in BlackRock’s IBIT alongside Fidelity’s FBTC fund, while JPMorgan expanded its crypto-related exposure during the quarter despite CEO Jamie Dimon’s well-known skepticism toward Bitcoin. Together, these portfolio moves point to a broader shift taking shape across traditional finance, where regulated Bitcoin investment vehicles are drawing deeper interest from banks, asset managers, and hedge funds. Bank of America’s latest filing ultimately fits squarely within that pattern, underscoring how Bitcoin is increasingly becoming the centerpiece of Wall Street’s crypto playbook. Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com