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TECHINASIA: Bitcoin rose above $64k but rebound stays limited

Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Ripple (XRP) begin the week on a cautious note after slipping over 3%, 1.5%, and 3.5%, respectively, in the previous week. BTC finds support around the key $62,300 level while ETH continues to trade sideways. Meanwhile, XRP hovers around $1.00, with weakening momentum suggesting deeper losses.

Bitcoin finds support around key $62,300 markBitcoin price trades at $63,135 on Monday, holding a bearish near-term bias as it remains capped beneath the 50-day Exponential Moving Average (EMA) at $64,306 and well below the 100-day and 200-day EMAs at $66,388 and $71,800, respectively.

Momentum readings reinforce the downside skew, with the Relative Strength Index (RSI) hovering at 44 in neutral-to-weak territory and the Moving Average Convergence Divergence (MACD) indicator entrenched in negative territory, suggesting lingering selling pressure despite the recent stabilization above $63,000.

On the topside, initial resistance is located at the 50-day EMA near $64,306, with a stronger cluster emerging around the 38.2% Fibonacci retracement of the latest swing at $65,547 and the 100-day EMA at $66,388, just ahead of the horizontal barrier at $66,500; a daily close above this zone would be needed to ease the current bearish tone and open the way toward the 50% retracement level at $67,940.

On the downside, immediate support is seen at the 23.6% Fibonacci retracement at $62,586, followed by the horizontal floor at $62,300, where a break would likely expose deeper losses toward the lower end of the broader range.

BTC/USDT daily chartEthereum continues to be range-boundEthereum price trades at $1,892 on Monday, holding above the 50-day EMA at $1,867 but remaining capped beneath the 100-day EMA at $1,919; it has traded sideways since mid-July. 

The RSI near 53 hints at modest positive momentum, yet the MACD stays negative, suggesting buying pressure is tentative rather than impulsive.

On the topside, initial resistance sits at the 100-day EMA around $1,919; a break there would expose the psychological horizontal barrier at $2,000 before the more strategic 200-day EMA at $2,118. 

On the downside, the 50-day EMA at $1,867 provides immediate support; a daily close below this level would open the door to the more distant horizontal support zone near $1,385, where a major structural floor emerges on the longer-term chart.

ETH/USDT daily chartXRP shows caution signalsXRP price trades at $1.00 on Monday, keeping a bearish bias as price holds beneath the 50-day EMA at $1.07 and the 100-day EMA at $1.15. The broader trend backdrop remains heavy with the 200-day EMA far above at $1.35, while the RSI around 37 and a negative MACD reading both hint at lingering downside pressure rather than an imminent bullish reversal.

On the topside, initial resistance emerges at the 50-day EMA near $1.07, followed by the 100-day EMA around $1.15 and the horizontal barrier at $1.30, with a more distant cap reinforced by the 200-day EMA near $1.35 and the structural high around $1.90. 

On the downside, immediate support is aligned with the psychological and horizontal floor at $1.00, where a sustained break would expose fresh lows and deepen the prevailing bearish structure.

XRP/USDT daily chart(The technical analysis of this story was written with the help of an AI tool. Know more.)

Cryptocurrency prices FAQs Token launches influence demand and adoption among market participants. Listings on crypto exchanges deepen the liquidity for an asset and add new participants to an asset’s network. This is typically bullish for a digital asset.

A hack is an event in which an attacker captures a large volume of the asset from a DeFi bridge or hot wallet of an exchange or any other crypto platform via exploits, bugs or other methods. The exploiter then transfers these tokens out of the exchange platforms to ultimately sell or swap the assets for other cryptocurrencies or stablecoins. Such events often involve an en masse panic triggering a sell-off in the affected assets.

Macroeconomic events like the US Federal Reserve’s decision on interest rates influence crypto assets mainly through the direct impact they have on the US Dollar. An increase in interest rate typically negatively influences Bitcoin and altcoin prices, and vice versa. If the US Dollar index declines, risk assets and associated leverage for trading gets cheaper, in turn driving crypto prices higher.

Halvings are typically considered bullish events as they slash the block reward in half for miners, constricting the supply of the asset. At consistent demand if the supply reduces, the asset’s price climbs.

JPMorgan Chase now lets institutional clients pledge Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral for U.S. dollar loans, placing crypto on the same ledger as Treasuries and blue-chip equities. For a bank whose CEO spent years calling Bitcoin a fraud, the reversal rewires how capital moves between Wall Street and decentralized networks, and forces every competitor to answer the same question.

Summary

JPMorgan Chase launched a program in March 2026 allowing institutional clients to pledge Bitcoin and Ethereum as collateral for U.S. dollar loans through its Kinexys digital assets platform, with custodians including Fidelity Digital Assets and Coinbase Custody holding the pledged tokens.
The bank applies estimated haircuts of 30% to 50% on crypto collateral, meaning a client pledging $100,000 in Bitcoin may receive only $50,000 to $70,000 in financing, with real-time oracle feeds from providers such as Chainlink adjusting valuations continuously.
This move follows JPMorgan’s filing of bitcoin-backed structured notes tied to BlackRock’s IBIT exchange-traded fund, offering leveraged returns of up to 1.5x and potential gains of 16% if IBIT hits predetermined targets by December 2026.
Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, and Bank of America are building a tokenized deposit network launching in the first half of 2027, suggesting JPMorgan’s collateral program is the opening act of a broader Wall Street integration.
The cultural shift is stark: CEO Jamie Dimon once called Bitcoin a “hyped-up fraud” and a “pet rock,” yet the bank now treats Bitcoin identically to stocks, bonds, and gold on its collateral schedule.

The pledged assets never leave cold storage at third-party custodians such as Fidelity Digital Assets and Coinbase Custody, but the dollars they unlock are as real as any credit line backed by government paper. JPMorgan Chase opened the program in March 2026 through its Kinexys digital assets platform, and the competitive cascade it triggered is already reshaping the banking industry.

From “pet rock” to pledgeable asset
Jamie Dimon’s public disdain for Bitcoin has been a recurring fixture of earnings calls and conference panels since at least 2017. He called it a fraud, compared it to tulip mania, and warned employees that trading it would be grounds for termination. Yet JPMorgan’s institutional clients kept asking for exposure, and the bank kept quietly building infrastructure to serve that demand. The Kinexys platform, formerly known as Onyx, now processes more than $5 billion in daily transaction volume and has handled over $3 trillion in cumulative settlements since its launch. Adding crypto collateral to that engine was less a philosophical U-turn and more the logical next step for a system already designed to move tokenized value at scale.

The internal evolution at JPMorgan tells a more nuanced story than the public rhetoric suggests. While Dimon was calling Bitcoin a fraud in shareholder letters, the bank’s technology division was hiring blockchain engineers, filing patents on tokenized settlement systems, and building the infrastructure that would become Kinexys. The digital assets team operated with a degree of autonomy that allowed it to build production-grade systems while the CEO continued to express skepticism on CNBC. That dynamic, where the engineering side of a bank runs ahead of the executive messaging, is common in large financial institutions. It happened with derivatives in the 1980s, with electronic trading in the 1990s, and with algorithmic market-making in the 2000s. The public stance catches up to the private investment, usually when a revenue opportunity becomes too large to ignore.

Eric Trump captured the irony at Consensus Miami 2026, pointing out that JPMorgan had gone from “crapping all over bitcoin” to offering mortgage products backed by crypto holdings in roughly 18 months. The timeline matters because it compresses what analysts expected to be a multi-year adoption curve into something closer to a sprint. When the bank that sets the pace for Wall Street lending accepts an asset as collateral, it sends a signal that cascades through compliance departments, risk committees, and boardrooms at every other major financial institution.

How the collateral program works
The mechanics mirror traditional securities lending more closely than most observers expected. A hedge fund or corporate treasury deposits Bitcoin or Ethereum with a third-party custodian, typically Fidelity Digital Assets or Coinbase Custody. JPMorgan never takes direct possession of the tokens. Instead, the bank receives a custodial receipt confirming the deposit, and the Kinexys platform records the pledge on its permissioned blockchain. The client then receives a U.S. dollar loan, with the crypto holdings serving as security.

Real-time price feeds, sourced from oracle providers including Chainlink, continuously update the valuation of the pledged assets. If the value of the collateral drops below a predetermined threshold, the system issues a margin call automatically. The client must either deposit additional collateral or repay part of the loan. If neither happens within the specified window, the custodian can liquidate the crypto position to cover the shortfall. The entire lifecycle, from pledge to margin call to potential liquidation, runs on blockchain rails that operate around the clock, a meaningful upgrade over the batch-processing cycles of traditional collateral management.

One detail that distinguishes this program from crypto-native lending platforms is the separation between custody and credit. On platforms like Aave or Compound, the collateral and the lending pool exist in the same smart contract ecosystem. A bug in the protocol can expose both simultaneously. JPMorgan’s structure intentionally fragments these functions across different entities: the bank underwrites the loan, the custodian holds the tokens, and the oracle provider supplies the pricing. That fragmentation adds operational complexity but creates firebreaks. A failure at any one layer does not automatically cascade into the others.

The initial rollout targets high-net-worth clients and institutional players. Retail access is not part of the current scope, though internal JPMorgan documents referenced by Bloomberg suggest the bank is evaluating a phased expansion that could include qualified retail investors by mid-2027.

The haircut question
Collateral haircuts are where the details reveal how seriously a bank treats an asset class. U.S. Treasuries typically carry haircuts of 1% to 5%, reflecting their low volatility and deep liquidity. Investment-grade corporate bonds sit in the 5% to 15% range. Gold, depending on the form and custodian, attracts haircuts of 10% to 25%.

JPMorgan’s reported haircuts for Bitcoin collateral land between 30% and 50%. That range acknowledges Bitcoin’s realized volatility, which has averaged roughly 50% to 70% annualized over the past five years, while still treating the asset as meaningfully pledgeable. A client depositing $1 million in Bitcoin would receive between $500,000 and $700,000 in loan proceeds. The spread within that range likely depends on the client’s creditworthiness, the loan tenor, and prevailing market conditions.

These numbers are not punitive by historical standards. When Goldman Sachs and other tier-one banks first explored Bitcoin-backed lending through tri-party repo arrangements, internal models suggested haircuts as high as 70%. The compression from 70% to a midpoint of roughly 40% over just a few years reflects both declining realized volatility as the asset matures and growing confidence in custodial infrastructure. If Bitcoin’s annualized volatility continues to fall, as it has with each successive halving cycle, the haircuts will tighten further. A world in which Bitcoin collateral receives a 20% haircut, comparable to high-yield corporate bonds, is plausible within the next three to five years.

What changes when Bitcoin becomes a balance-sheet instrument
The shift from speculative asset to pledgeable collateral rewires incentive structures across the financial system. Consider three immediate consequences.

First, it creates a reason to hold Bitcoin that has nothing to do with price appreciation. A corporate treasurer sitting on $50 million in Bitcoin can now borrow against that position to fund operations, acquisitions, or working capital without triggering a taxable event. The cost of capital for that borrowing, once haircuts and interest rates are factored in, may compare favorably to unsecured corporate debt for many mid-tier firms. Bitcoin becomes a tool for liquidity management, not just a bet on number-go-up.

Second, it introduces a new class of forced sellers. Margin calls on crypto-collateralized loans create liquidation pressure that did not exist when Bitcoin sat entirely outside the banking system. A sharp drawdown that triggers widespread margin calls at JPMorgan and its eventual competitors could amplify selling in a way that the market has not yet experienced at institutional scale. The plumbing that makes collateral possible also makes cascading liquidations possible.

Third, it pressures accounting standards. Under current U.S. GAAP rules updated in late 2024, companies can carry Bitcoin at fair value with changes flowing through earnings. If banks are treating Bitcoin as loan collateral, auditors and regulators will face increasing pressure to harmonize the treatment of crypto assets across the financial system. The gap between how a bank values Bitcoin as collateral and how a corporate borrower accounts for it on its balance sheet creates friction that the system will eventually resolve.

Fourth, it changes how Bitcoin miners and large holders think about treasury management. Companies like MARA Holdings have already used Bitcoin to refinance debt through crypto-native lenders such as Arch Lending. The entry of JPMorgan into this market gives those same borrowers access to cheaper capital, longer tenors, and the reputational cover of borrowing from a systemically important bank. The interest rates on JPMorgan’s crypto-collateralized loans have not been publicly disclosed, but the bank’s cost of funding is significantly lower than any crypto-native lender. That cost advantage will pull borrowing volume away from decentralized platforms and into the traditional banking system, an ironic outcome for an asset class built on the premise of disintermediation.

The competitive cascade
JPMorgan rarely moves first without knowing that competitors are watching. Goldman Sachs has been working on its own crypto-collateral program through tri-party repo structures. Citigroup is building custody rails designed to handle $30 trillion in tokenized assets. Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Citigroup are jointly constructing a tokenized deposit network that launches in the first half of 2027 and would allow round-the-clock corporate fund transfers. Each of these initiatives is a precondition for accepting crypto collateral at scale.

The pattern echoes what happened with prime brokerage services for hedge funds in the 1990s. Once one bank offered a comprehensive package, every competitor had to match it or risk losing clients. The same dynamic is playing out with crypto services. JPMorgan has already filed to issue bitcoin-backed structured notes tied to BlackRock’s IBIT ETF, offering leveraged returns and conditional principal protection. Goldman Sachs is expected to announce similar products before the end of the third quarter. The question is no longer whether traditional banks will offer crypto-backed financial products, but how quickly the full menu will be available.

Regional banks face a different calculus. They lack the technology budgets and regulatory relationships to build Kinexys-style platforms from scratch. Most will rely on infrastructure partners, likely the same custodians and oracle providers that JPMorgan uses, to offer white-label versions of crypto collateral services. The result is a tiered market in which the largest banks offer bespoke crypto lending directly, mid-tier banks partner with fintechs, and smaller institutions simply refer clients elsewhere. That tiering already exists for foreign exchange and derivatives. Crypto is following the same organizational logic.

The opposing case: why this could unravel
Every structural shift comes with scenarios that could reverse it. The most direct threat is a regulatory crackdown. The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency has not issued definitive guidance on bank-held crypto collateral, and a change in administration or a major crypto-related loss at a systemically important bank could prompt restrictions that make the economics unworkable.

Volatility remains the fundamental challenge. Bitcoin’s 30-day realized volatility spiked above 100% during the March 2020 crash and exceeded 80% during the May 2021 selloff. A similar spike under the new collateral regime would trigger margin calls at a scale the system has not been tested against. If custodians cannot process liquidations quickly enough during a flash crash, the resulting losses could make banks pull back from crypto collateral entirely.

Custodial risk is the dark scenario. The collapse of FTX in 2022 showed that even large, apparently reputable crypto custodians can fail catastrophically. JPMorgan mitigates this by using regulated third-party custodians with segregated accounts, but the risk is not zero. A breach, hack, or operational failure at a major custodian could freeze collateral and create cascading defaults.

The invalidation criteria are clear: if any G-SIB (global systemically important bank) suspends its crypto collateral program due to losses or regulatory action within the next 18 months, the competitive cascade described above stalls. If two or more suspend simultaneously, the entire thesis reverses and crypto reverts to its pre-collateral status as a purely speculative asset class in the eyes of traditional finance.

Ethereum’s parallel path and the altcoin question
JPMorgan’s program accepts Ethereum alongside Bitcoin, but the two assets occupy different positions in the institutional hierarchy. JPMorgan’s own analysts have argued that Bitcoin has pulled decisively ahead as the institutional base layer, with spot Bitcoin ETFs recovering roughly two-thirds of their October 2025 outflows while spot Ethereum ETFs clawed back only about one-third.

The divergence matters for collateral because it affects how banks model risk. Bitcoin’s correlation structure, its relationship to equities, gold, and real interest rates, is better understood and more stable than Ethereum’s. A risk committee evaluating Ethereum collateral must also consider smart contract risk, network upgrade risk, and the possibility that DeFi activity on Ethereum declines further, reducing the fundamental demand for the token. These factors justify wider haircuts on Ethereum than on Bitcoin, and internal bank models reportedly reflect that asymmetry.

The broader altcoin universe is nowhere near collateral eligibility. Tokens with lower liquidity, shorter track records, and less regulatory clarity will remain outside the banking system’s collateral framework for the foreseeable future. The gap between Bitcoin and Ethereum on one side and everything else on the other is widening, not narrowing, as institutional infrastructure develops. Solana, despite processing JPMorgan’s first public-blockchain commercial paper issuance, is not on the collateral schedule. Neither are any stablecoins, wrapped tokens, or governance tokens. The threshold for collateral eligibility in the traditional banking system is far higher than the threshold for exchange listing, and that distinction will shape capital allocation for years to come.

For Ethereum specifically, the path to tighter haircuts runs through proving sustained network utility. If staking yields stabilize, layer-2 activity grows, and real-world asset tokenization on Ethereum scales meaningfully, risk committees may eventually treat ETH collateral on terms closer to Bitcoin. But that convergence is not guaranteed, and the current data points in the opposite direction.

What the Bitcoin ETF ecosystem means for collateral
The existence of spot Bitcoin ETFs creates a bridge between crypto-native collateral and traditional securities lending. A bank can accept shares of BlackRock’s IBIT as collateral without ever touching Bitcoin directly. The ETF wrapper provides regulatory clarity, custodial simplicity, and a familiar risk framework. JPMorgan’s structured notes tied to IBIT are an early example of this hybrid approach.

The ETF bridge also creates an interesting arbitrage dynamic. If a client can pledge IBIT shares at a 10% haircut through a standard securities lending agreement, or pledge the underlying Bitcoin at a 40% haircut through the crypto collateral program, the economics strongly favor the ETF route. This means that much of the early demand for crypto collateral may flow through ETFs rather than spot crypto, at least until haircuts on direct Bitcoin pledges tighten to competitive levels.

Over time, the two tracks should converge. As banks gain experience with direct Bitcoin custody and the realized loss rates on crypto-collateralized loans become visible, the haircut premium for spot Bitcoin over ETF shares will narrow. The end state is one in which Bitcoin, whether held directly or through an ETF, is treated as a single asset class on the collateral schedule, with haircuts reflecting the underlying volatility rather than the wrapper.

The regulatory dimension reinforces this convergence. The Clarity Act, which JPMorgan publicly backed despite lowering its estimate of the bill’s passage probability to below 50%, would provide a federal framework for digital asset classification. If passed, the act would remove much of the legal uncertainty that currently justifies wider haircuts on spot crypto versus ETF shares. Even without the Clarity Act, the SEC’s approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs has already created a regulatory precedent that treats the underlying assets as legitimate enough to wrap in registered securities. The collateral question is the next logical extension of that precedent.

What to watch
The next 12 months will determine whether JPMorgan’s collateral program is the beginning of a permanent structural shift or an experiment that gets walked back under pressure. Three signals matter most.

The first is competitor entry. If Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, and at least one European universal bank launch comparable programs by mid-2027, the shift is durable. If JPMorgan remains alone, something is wrong with the economics or the regulatory environment.

The second is haircut compression. The current 30% to 50% range for Bitcoin reflects uncertainty. If that range tightens to 20% to 35% within a year, it means realized loss rates are low and the bank’s risk models are being validated by actual experience. If haircuts widen, the opposite is true.

The third is a stress test. The program has not yet been through a genuine market dislocation. The first 20%-plus drawdown in Bitcoin while significant collateral is pledged through the system will reveal whether the liquidation mechanisms work as designed. A clean liquidation cycle, one that processes margin calls and sells collateral without systemic disruption, would be the strongest possible endorsement of the program’s architecture.

Beyond these three signals, watch for the accounting and regulatory responses. If the Financial Accounting Standards Board issues updated guidance specifically addressing crypto collateral in banking contexts, it signals that the infrastructure is being built to last. If the OCC publishes interpretive letters clarifying the permissibility of crypto-backed lending for nationally chartered banks, the door opens for institutions that have been waiting on the sidelines. Conversely, if enforcement actions or congressional hearings target bank-held crypto collateral specifically, the expansion timeline extends significantly. The regulatory posture in Washington over the next year will shape the speed of this transition more than any single bank’s internal decision.

This article is for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial or investment advice. Cryptocurrency investments carry significant risk, and readers should conduct their own research before making any financial decisions. Published on August 16, 2026.

4 Reasons This Could Be the Most Important Week of August for Bitcoin and XRP

According to HTX market data, the crypto market remains in sideways consolidation, awaiting a directional shift. Bitcoin is trading at $62,800, down 0.3% in 24 hours; Ethereum stands at $1,876, with a 0.35% 24-hour drop. The total crypto market cap fell 0.3% over the same period to $2.226 trillion. Multiple crypto firms and analysts have recently reached a collective consensus that major market volatility is imminent. BTC’s token accumulation at the $63,000 level has hit an extreme peak; technical indicators including Bitcoin’s Average Directional Index signal volatility is set to return, as the sideways range has persisted for a considerable time. The massive short-term token accumulation near $63,000 acts as a potential volatility trigger, with any external event potentially serving as a catalyst. The market is now in a tense pre-directional phase, with significant swings ahead, and investors are urged to exercise high caution. Some altcoins are seeing unusual movements: PORTAL rose 51.3% in 24 hours to $0.0165; ALICE gained 11.7% to $0.1376; DODO climbed 11.4% to $0.022.

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For the first time in recent years, the balance of Bitcoin held on exchanges has climbed above the widely watched 200-day SMA. This increase signals that more BTC is returning to the market, boosting overall liquidity. The new trend directly challenges the prevailing narrative of diminishing supply that has often underpinned bullish price projections.

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TLDR: Bitcoin trades near $63,038, about 19% below the $77,500 level seen when David Tait’s zero call emerged. Citi cut its 12-month Bitcoin target to $82,000 from $112,000, while its bearish case now sits at $53,000. Standard Chartered and TD Cowen both cut 2026 Bitcoin targets to $100,000 from $150,000 and $140,000. Gold topped $4,400 an ounce as central-bank Q2 purchases rose 62% year over year to a net 289 tonnes. Bitcoin’s fall toward $63,000 has revived scrutiny of one of 2026’s most extreme cryptocurrency forecasts. World Gold Council CEO David Tait said in May that he believed Bitcoin would eventually fall to zero.

CONTROVERSIAL TAKE: The World Gold Council CEO Personally Believes Bitcoin Is Headed To $0

That’s a VERY different view from the growing institutional adoption we’re seeing around $BTC.

Is Bitcoin Really Going To Zero… Or Will This Prediction Age Very Badly? pic.twitter.com/5SqdnWNKoT

— Crypto Patel (@CryptoPatel) August 16, 2026

At the time, Bitcoin traded near $77,500, placing the latest price around 19% below levels seen when his comments circulated. The decline gives his broader criticism fresh relevance, although the asset remains far from a literal collapse to zero.

Tait’s argument was not based on a formal valuation model. Instead, he described the zero call as a trader’s instinct and questioned Bitcoin’s effectiveness as a hedge.

He said he had expected the asset to offset exposure to riskier investments. However, he argued that it had not consistently performed that role during market stress.

That criticism has become more significant as digital assets move deeper into traditional finance. A 2025 study found Bitcoin’s correlation with the S&P 500 increased after U.S. spot ETFs launched.

Meanwhile, its relationship with gold remained near zero. The finding suggested the asset was behaving more like a risk-sensitive financial instrument than a direct bullion substitute.

Gold, on the contrary, has strengthened during the same period. Spot bullion traded above $4,400 an ounce this week, while central banks bought a net 289 tonnes during Q2.

World Gold Council data showed those purchases increased 62% from a year earlier. First-half gold demand reached 2,522 tonnes, carrying a record value of $380 billion.

The contrast does not validate Tait’s zero forecast. Still, it highlights the different market behavior he emphasized when comparing digital assets with traditional defensive holdings.

Wall Street Cuts Bitcoin Targets as $63K Holds The current price also challenges earlier institutional forecasts. Citi cut its 12-month Bitcoin target to $82,000 from $112,000 in July.

The bank cited negative ETF flows, softer investor demand and slower progress on U.S. crypto legislation. Its bearish scenario placed the asset at $53,000.

Standard Chartered also lowered expectations, targeting about $100,000 by the end of 2026 after previously projecting $150,000. Similarly, TD Cowen reduced its year-end target to $100,000 from $140,000.

Those revisions put the current market between two very different extremes. Tait’s zero call remains distant, while several aggressive six-figure projections have already been scaled back.

Institutional access has also remained available despite weaker prices. BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust still offers regulated exposure, although its NAV return was down 27.57% year to date.

As of August 13, the fund’s performance reflected the wider downturn. More recently, Bitcoin has traded largely between $62,000 and $66,000 for several weeks.

ETF buying has competed with selling from miners and corporate holders. That balance has kept the market compressed near levels well below earlier cycle forecasts.

At roughly $63,038, Bitcoin therefore serves as a reality check for both sides. The asset is down materially since May, but nowhere near confirming a zero-price outcome.

For now, the strongest conclusion is numerical rather than ideological. The market has weakened enough to challenge bullish targets, yet not remotely enough to validate Tait’s most extreme prediction.

Billionaire investor Mark Cuban once challenged comedian Bill Maher’s belief that gold was a superior hedge to Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), only to concede years later that the apex cryptocurrency wasn’t the hedge he expected it to be.

When Cuban Made the Bull Case for BitcoinDuring the Club Randon Podcast dated Dec. 29, 2022, Maher said he’s anti-Bitcoin and prefers holding gold, which he considered a “hedge against everything else.”

Cuban pushed back on the narrative, calling Maher "dumb" for holding gold. He argued that both gold and Bitcoin derive their value not from any peg or intrinsic backing, but from market perception.

The “Shark Tank” star said he’s waiting for Bitcoin to dip further so that he can accumulate some more. Remember, this was the peak of the 2022 cryptocurrency winter, when BTC crashed to $16,000.

Read Next

From Optimism to RetreatFast forward to 2026, and Cuban isn’t the same Bitcoin bull he used to be.

In May, the billionaire revealed he’d sold most of his Bitcoin as it didn’t turn out to be the "hedge" he expected. He added that Bitcoin behaved more like a high-beta tech stock than a safe haven.

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Although Bitcoin has lagged gold over the past year and five-year period, it has outperformed the precious metal over longer time horizons.

Asset1-Year Gains +/-5-Year Gains +/-10-Year Gains +/-Bitcoin-46%+36%+10,940%Spot Gold
               +29%+143%+220%Cuban said he builds his investments around a thesis, and as long as the thesis holds, he stays in.

“But when it turns out my thesis is wrong, that’s when I get out,” he added.

Notably, Cuban also expressed his dissatisfaction with cryptocurrency in general, arguing that it hasn’t come up with an "application for grandma." He also referred to memecoins as "garbage."

Price Action: At the time of writing, BTC was exchanging hands at $63,321.12, down 0.37% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro.

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Bitcoin Price Analysis: Will BTC Finally Break Out of Consolidation Next Week?

Mike McGlone, Senior Commodity Strategist at Bloomberg Intelligence, has issued a cautionary outlook on Bitcoin’s medium-term trajectory, suggesting the cryptocurrency may be vulnerable to a significant correction. McGlone pointed out that while US stock indices like the Nasdaq and S&P 500 are climbing to all-time highs, Bitcoin remains subdued, trailing behind major equities.

Key resistance and speculative bubble concernsMcGlone emphasized Bitcoin’s repeated failure to consolidate above the psychologically crucial $69,000 mark, even as equities continue advancing. He argues that this divergence signals a possible deflation of the speculative bubble in Bitcoin, which had previously paralleled the upward momentum in the US tech sector.

According to McGlone, the multiyear surge in Bitcoin’s price resembles a “Faustian bargain,” where the industry’s past growth and influx of institutional capital have come at the cost of increased reliance on external economic stimuli. He reported that every major rally in Bitcoin was supported by temporary, artificial factors, such as historic liquidity injections and favorable regulatory shifts.

McGlone describes Bitcoin’s rise as “a success story that owes much to institutional adoption and unprecedented liquidity, but is now exposed to the withdrawal of those very supports.”

In 2021, record-breaking liquidity supplied by central banks drove Bitcoin toward its previous peaks. More recently, in early 2024, the approval of spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US fueled renewed momentum. However, McGlone observes that ETF inflows have now waned and the benefits of regulatory excitement are fading.

ETF inflows drop, macro trends returnAs of the latest data, Bitcoin is trading near $63,000. McGlone noted that the recent stall in ETF-related inflows, combined with diminished regulatory optimism, has left the market exposed to broader macroeconomic cycles rather than unique crypto catalysts.

Bloomberg’s analysis shows that Bitcoin’s movements closely follow trends in the traditional technology sector, particularly the ratio of the Nasdaq-100 Index compared to the broader S&P 500. With this spread now shifting downward, McGlone warned of potential mean reversion—a process where prices return to long-term historical averages.

AssetCurrent Price2021 PeakHistorical Avg (2019–2020)Bitcoin$63,000Above $69,000$10,000Nasdaq-100All-time highCurrentLower historical valuesMcGlone stated that a return to the $10,000 range, last seen in 2019–2020, is possible if financial cycles continue to revert as in past macroeconomic environments.

Altcoin explosion and flight to qualityThe strategist also highlighted the impact of a rapidly growing supply of alternative cryptocurrencies. He acknowledged that millions of new tokens may be generating additional downside pressure on Bitcoin as capital diversifies across the broader digital asset market.

However, McGlone recognized that some analysts view the altcoin surge as reinforcing Bitcoin’s unique position in the crypto ecosystem. As institutional investors seek safe and proven digital assets, he reported, Bitcoin’s relative scarcity and foundational regulatory standing continue to distinguish it from new, less established coins.

Despite market saturation with low-quality tokens, institutional capital increasingly gravitates to Bitcoin as the primary store of value among cryptocurrencies.

Bloomberg Intelligence, as the research arm of the global financial data company Bloomberg, regularly tracks institutional trends and market sentiment in the cryptocurrency space.

Mini dictionary: Bloomberg Intelligence, the research division of Bloomberg, provides data-driven insights and analytics for institutional investors in financial markets, including cryptocurrencies.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Bitcoin Has Never Faced Global Bond Yields This High Since It Was Born

I don’t think Bitcoin is ever going to go back below $60,000. I think forever “I think the base case for Bitcoin is basically that you get higher lows, and you do have these run-ups that happen roughly every four years. I would say that if you get control of some of these looming risks or threats, that’s a good setup. The more important part is what happens in the world more broadly with regards to liquidity in financial markets. The more circulating money supply in a broad sense, the higher Bitcoin goes. I think Bitcoin should be thought of as a counterpoint to what’s happening on the central bank side, or the treasury side. 

“So it sounds crazy to say Bitcoin at $1 million from our vantage point, but I’m sure it sounded crazy to say $100,000 Bitcoin if you’re in 2018. So you kind of end up shifting the window of the realm of possibilities, and in a way, it’s debasement. You’re updating the unit of account because we’re just spending so much more money. 

“My personal view is that I don’t think Bitcoin is ever going to go back below $60,000. I think forever.

“You have to keep in mind, Bitcoin is the counterpoint to the central bank’s endless printing of money. There’s nothing that suggests that we’re going to stop printing money; on the contrary, probably. 

“Bitcoin is kind of the most well-known way to counter that, except for maybe gold. That’s why I do think it’s going to be part of a lot of people’s portfolios, both retail and institutions. And in 2030, I think a million dollars per Bitcoin is definitely within the realm of possibility.”

– Nansen co-founder and CEO Alex Svanevik

“US spot Bitcoin ETFs attracted more than $850 million last week, the strongest weekly inflow since April. But the more telling story is what Bitcoin did around it. The asset absorbed two very different stress tests in the same week: the Coldcard breach, one of the largest hardware wallet exploits on record at over $100 million, and the BIP-110 fork attempt. Through both, Bitcoin held firm above $65,000, up from around $58,000 at the start of July.

“The two headlines make an important distinction clear. BIP-110 was a test of Bitcoin’s governance, and the network passed. With support from barely 2% of miners, the breakaway chain stalled within hours while the main chain carried on uninterrupted. By contrast, Coldcard was not a failure of Bitcoin at all; it was a failure of a single infrastructure vendor. A firmware flaw dating back to 2021 quietly weakened the randomness used to generate private keys, and thousands of security-conscious holders who did everything right paid the price.

“The Coldcard incident shows that self-custody doesn’t remove risk; it concentrates it on the individual, who must get key generation, firmware, backups and inheritance right, indefinitely, with no recourse if any link fails.

“Regulated custody introduces a counterparty, but a supervised one. For most investors, that trade is worth understanding honestly. A maturing market isn’t one where everyone holds their own keys. It’s one where investors can choose the custody model whose risks they are genuinely equipped to manage.

“Fundamentally, Bitcoin is a liquidity-sensitive asset. Historically, it has performed strongly when liquidity is abundant, and interest rates are low, while higher rates and tighter financial conditions have put it under pressure.”

“This is the lens through which long-term Bitcoin holders will view today’s CPI print. The significance was never going to be in the headline figure itself, but in what it signals for the future path of interest rates and liquidity. A result that makes looser monetary policy more likely would be constructive for Bitcoin; one that reinforces a higher-for-longer outlook would act as a headwind.

“For those long-term holders, the significance lies in the direction of travel, not a single release. Bitcoin’s longer-term case won’t be settled by a single inflation print or policy decision, even as near-term prices continue to be driven by where the market thinks rates and liquidity are heading.”

– Gadi Chait, head of investments, Xapo Bank

“With price trading inside this band, the largest concentration of holders across any narrow $3,000 range keeps moving between profit and loss and a large volume of coins changes hands as a result. That’s typical holder behaviour. A breakout needs fresh demand, absent supply, or both. This week delivered neither and for the first time this year the supply side can be identified in the cohort data.”

“The multi-year holder base within this cohort carries a realised price below $49,000 and is not the seller, so there is no mass exodus. Addresses holding more than 1000 BTC or whale balances reached a 2026 high to 3.06 million BTC as of 8 August, this puts the largest entities on the other side of the trade. What changed this week is the arrival of buyers at the top of the range, entering long-term holder status. Losses dominating cohort spending is the behaviour of a late-stage bear market rather than a distribution top.”

“We rank the signals to watch in this order. First, the flow response, whether the ETF run resumes or the outflow streak extends. Second, the cohort response on any test of $62,000-$63,000, whether the profitability gradient accelerates long-term holder loss-taking or exhausts it. Third, the rates reaction itself.

“The range’s exits are unchanged. Upside requires acceptance above the $65,021-$65,510 band on a daily close. Two daily closes above $68,300, where the short-term holder cost basis meets the April monthly open, would end the structure entirely.”

– Bitfinex

Crypto analyst Dark Defender has suggested that an upcoming shift in Bitcoin (BTC) dominance could trigger a significant move for $XRP. According to Dark Defender, recent technical signals indicate that XRP may be on the verge of a noteworthy upswing, driven by broader market dynamics.

Technical outlook for Bitcoin dominanceDark Defender identified BTC dominance at 58.84% after a recent pullback from its previous high. His analysis highlights an Elliott Wave structure, with Bitcoin’s market share projected to fall in several stages. The current level sits just below a descending trendline stretching back to the 2018 peak, positioned around the 60% to 62% range.

He marked key Fibonacci retracement levels, with 61.80% at 60.14% and the 38.20% line at 62.09%. If BTC dominance were to approach these levels, it would return to a significant long-term resistance band. In the Elliott Wave count, such a movement forms wave (2), after which a reversal into wave (3) could drive dominance lower.

BTC dominance remains below the long-term descending trendline connecting peaks since 2018, with Fibonacci resistance levels at 60.14% and 62.09% acting as key thresholds for a possible market shift.

Dark Defender mapped out potential downside targets, assigning 55.32% with the 123.60% Fibonacci extension as the first major level. The next targets are 52.54% with the 161.80% extension and potentially 45.90% at the 261.80% Fibonacci extension. The 45.90% mark aligns with a rising trendline linking prior BTC dominance lows. Beyond this drop, the outlook includes a recovery toward 52.54% before another possible decline for wave (5).

Momentum and RSI signalsThe monthly Relative Strength Index (RSI) supports the projection of a decreasing BTC dominance. The RSI had recently moved above 70 but fell toward the middle of its range, with a current reading of 51.59 below its moving average of 54.09. This technical picture suggests that momentum behind BTC’s dominance is weakening further.

As traditional markets increasingly witness technical analysis integrated into investment decisions, a parallel trend emerges in digital asset markets. While traditional market investors have long relied on brokers to navigate complex trades, Wall Street’s shift to Web3 now sees platforms like 1stepSwap offering direct ownership of shares, gold, and silver via crypto wallets. Tokenization of Real-World Assets (RWAs) and automated best-price mechanisms streamline trading, removing the need for intermediaries and enabling faster market access.

XRP’s opportunity amid a projected rotationAlthough Dark Defender did not specify an exact price target for XRP, his analysis links the token’s upside potential to the projected drop in BTC dominance. If Bitcoin’s share fails to sustain the 60.14% and 62.09% resistance levels, he expects a move toward 55.32%, 52.54%, and eventually 45.90%.

XRP has historically gained momentum when Bitcoin dominance declines, indicating the token could be well positioned to benefit from a shift in overall crypto market share.

A sustained decrease in BTC’s market share often allows altcoins, including XRP, to increase their presence and valuations. Previous cycles have seen XRP and other assets rally when Bitcoin’s influence wanes in the broader cryptocurrency landscape.

Currently, analysts and traders are closely monitoring these technical markers, noting that confirmation of a trend reversal in BTC dominance could act as a catalyst for the next major altcoin rotation. If the downward targets for Bitcoin dominance materialize, XRP could see a renewed period of strength as market participants rotate capital into alternative crypto assets.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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TLDR:

Vitalik credits Bitcoin’s UTXO design as Ethereum explores a hybrid state model targeting 1,000x scaling.
Native UTXOs could cut permanent payment-state usage by 99.8%, reducing one billion entries to about 300 MB.
Ethereum’s state grows about 100 GB yearly, making state efficiency a key constraint on 1,000x scaling.
Recursive STARKs could add about 2 MB/s bandwidth with eight peers and 500ms aggregation as activity scales.

Ethereum is increasingly borrowing ideas from Bitcoin as researchers confront one of blockchain’s hardest scaling problems: keeping state growth manageable as network activity expands. In an Aug. 16 post, Vitalik Buterin credited Bitcoin developers for pioneering concepts now influencing Ethereum research, specifically highlighting the Utreexo project.

Bitcoiners deserve a lot of credit for pioneering many of these ideas (see Utreexo).

But yes, this is what the current proposed Ethereum scaling strategy looks like in action.

We want Ethereum to have the best of UTXO-style state, dynamic state, and everything in between,…

— vitalik.eth (@VitalikButerin) August 16, 2026

Rather than replacing Ethereum’s account system, the emerging strategy would combine UTXO-style structures with dynamic state and other approaches. The objective is to scale activity substantially while preserving decentralization, censorship resistance, and practical node operation.

The shift forms part of a broader research roadmap targeting roughly 1,000x long-term scaling across execution, data availability, and state management. Buterin wrote in February that execution could eventually scale about 1,000x through ZK-EVMs.

Meanwhile, PeerDAS and blobs could provide roughly 500x data scaling. However, State presents a different challenge as Ethereum’s active state is already expanding by approximately 100 GB annually.

As persistent accounts and storage entries accumulate, nodes must handle an increasingly large amount of information, potentially raising the cost of operating the network. To address that problem, a July proposal from Ethereum researcher Toni Wahrstätter introduced native UTXOs as one possible solution.

Under Ethereum’s current account model, receiving ETH or tokens can create persistent state. By contrast, a UTXO-style payment functions as a one-time object that can later be consumed when spent.

According to the proposal, native UTXOs could reduce permanent state requirements by roughly 99.8% for payment workloads that do not need persistent storage. Rather than keeping each complete payment object in active state, Ethereum could preserve its creation information in historical logs and retain only a compact marker indicating whether it was spent.

The potential reduction becomes clearer at scale. At one billion entries, the proposal estimates that permanent UTXO state could require roughly 300 MB, compared with between 100 GB and 150 GB for equivalent account or storage entries.

That gap helps explain why Bitcoin-inspired architecture has become increasingly relevant to Ethereum’s scaling research. Still, the proposed model would be hybrid rather than replacing Ethereum’s existing account structure entirely.

Smart contracts and applications requiring dynamic storage could continue using conventional accounts. Meanwhile, simpler transfers could move into lighter state classes, reducing the amount of permanent information nodes must retain.

Bitcoin’s Utreexo project provides another reference point for this approach. Instead of requiring every node to store the full UTXO dataset, Utreexo uses a compact Merkle-tree accumulator alongside cryptographic inclusion proofs.

As a result, Bitcoin Optech estimates that the design can reduce local state requirements to only a few kilobytes while still allowing nodes to perform full transaction validation.

Native UTXOs Could Slash Ethereum Payment State by 99.8%
Ethereum researchers are also examining how native UTXOs could work alongside Buterin’s proposed recursive-STARK mempool. Under that system, mempool nodes would periodically combine transaction-validity proofs into recursive STARKs.

Individual proofs could reach roughly 128 kB, yet aggregation would prevent bandwidth requirements from rising proportionally with transaction activity. One example estimates about 2 MB per second of additional bandwidth for a node maintaining eight peers with 500-millisecond aggregation intervals.

A later research discussion connected this design with native UTXOs. Large numbers of independent spends could potentially be proven recursively before being represented by a substantially smaller aggregate proof.

However, the architecture remains experimental rather than an upcoming network change. The native UTXO proposal partly depends on EIP-8141 Frame Transactions, which remains classified as a draft.

The research nevertheless shows how Ethereum’s scaling strategy is broadening. Bitcoin-inspired state structures are now being studied alongside zero-knowledge proofs to reduce node burdens while supporting substantially higher activity.

DeFiLlama Sacrificed Real Crypto to Force Apple Into Action

TLDR:

Bitcoin price trades near $63,069 after a 47% yearly decline, while $61,126 support and $63,517 resistance define the immediate setup.
Michael Saylor says Strategy’s digital credit products returned between negative 27% and positive 9%, with STRC leading the group.
STRC preferred stock carries a 12% variable annual dividend, paid semi-monthly, and Strategy targets trading near its $100 stated amount.
STRC’s one-year result shows lower downside than Bitcoin, but dividend decisions, issuer risk, liquidity, and discounts to par still matter.

Bitcoin price traded near $63,069 after a muted session, extending a difficult year for the largest cryptocurrency. Michael Saylor said BTC lost 47% during the past 12 months, while Strategy’s STRC preferred stock returned 9%. The contrast places Strategy’s preferred stock structure under market attention. That divergence has become central to Saylor’s latest argument.

STRC sits within Strategy’s digital credit lineup, which posted returns ranging from negative 27% to positive 9%, Saylor wrote. The company designed these securities to deliver income and reduce downside sensitivity relative to Bitcoin. Still, their returns, payment terms, and risks differ from holding BTC directly.

Source: TradingView
Bitcoin Price Faces Resistance as Downside Risk Builds
Bitcoin price remains below key moving averages, which indicates weak short-term momentum. Trading activity also appears subdued, leaving the price sensitive to shifts in risk appetite and liquidity. The immediate range runs from $61,126 support to $64,346 resistance.

Current market modeling assigns a 70% probability to a lower move and 30% to an upside break. Such probabilities describe a scenario, not a guaranteed path. Sideways trading therefore stays plausible while BTC holds inside the projected volatility band.

Bitcoin price above $63,517 would improve the short-term structure and open a test of $64,346. Buyers would need follow-through above that ceiling to weaken the broader bearish signal. Without confirmation, rebounds may struggle beneath moving-average resistance.

On the other hand, a break below $61,126 would confirm renewed selling pressure. That loss could increase volatility as traders reduce exposure or protect leveraged positions. The Bitcoin price would then need a quick recovery above support to limit technical damage.

The annual loss also frames Saylor’s comparison with Strategy’s securities. BTC offers direct exposure to asset appreciation, but investors absorb its full market volatility. STRC instead combines preferred equity risk with scheduled cash income and a price-management mechanism.

These structures serve different objectives, so the one-year return gap does not establish permanent outperformance. Bitcoin could reverse faster during a broad risk rally. STRC could face pressure from issuer credit, dividend changes, market liquidity, or a widening discount to par. Investors must compare total return, not headline price movement alone. Time horizons also shape each instrument’s risk profile.

How STRC Preferred Stock Pursues Income Near Par Value
The STRC preferred stock is Strategy’s Variable Rate Series A Perpetual Stretch Preferred Stock. Its product page identifies a 12% annual dividend, paid semi-monthly in cash. The company adjusts the rate monthly to encourage trading near the $100 stated amount.

Over the past year, $BTC fell 47%. Our Digital Credit instruments ranged from -27% to +9%, with $STRC up 9%. Financial engineering can transform volatile Digital Capital into instruments designed for income, stability, and reduced downside risk. pic.twitter.com/ZtiRoeIsBA

— Michael Saylor (@saylor) August 16, 2026

STRC therefore carries a different return profile from Bitcoin. Cash distributions may cushion price weakness, while rate changes may support demand. Strategy authorized up to $1 billion for digital credit repurchases, including STRC. The shares are not collateralized by Strategy’s Bitcoin holdings.

These protections are not guarantees. Strategy says dividends require board declaration and available funds. The company may change, suspend, or discontinue repurchases, depending on market conditions and capital needs. STRC can trade materially below $100 despite management’s target range.

Saylor argues that financial engineering can reshape volatile digital capital into securities designed for income and stability. The 47% Bitcoin price decline and STRC’s 9% return support that case over the measured year. They do not remove issuer risk or ensure future results.

Markets will watch Strategy’s Bitcoin trades, dollar reserve, and future changes to STRC’s dividend rate. Repurchase activity could affect liquidity and the discount to stated value. A sustained move toward $100 would strengthen the stability claim, while renewed weakness would challenge it.

Bitcoin price remains a key variable. A recovery above $63,517 could improve sentiment across Strategy’s capital structure. Losing $61,126 could revive concerns about reserve coverage, financing costs, and preferred-share demand. Strategy reviews STRC’s rate using Bitcoin volatility, credit spreads, trading levels, and market yields.

Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Not financial or tax advice. PANews content is strictly educational and informational and is not investment advice, financial advice, tax advice, legal advice, or a solicitation to buy or sell any digital asset, security, or financial product. Do your own research and consult qualified advisers.

Disclosure. PANews may publish sponsored content, partner content, advertisements, affiliate links, event promotions, and market commentary involving Web3 projects, service providers, or financial products. PANews personnel, contributors, or affiliates may hold digital assets or other interests related to covered topics. See our Terms of Service.

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Cover image via depositphotos.com Disclaimer: The opinions expressed by our writers are their own and do not represent the views of U.Today. The financial and market information provided on U.Today is intended for informational purposes only. U.Today is not liable for any financial losses incurred while trading cryptocurrencies. Conduct your own research by contacting financial experts before making any investment decisions. We believe that all content is accurate as of the date of publication, but certain offers mentioned may no longer be available.

Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor published an annual performance report on digital credit instruments under the Strategy brand on his social media accounts, showing investors a striking divergence between the performance of the company's structured products and the price action of the leading cryptocurrency.

According to the infographic, while "raw" Bitcoin plunged 47% over the past 12 months, the ecosystem's defensive debt securities successfully absorbed the blow, while the flagship STRC instrument even posted a net gain of 9%.

1-year performance chart of Digital Credit products issued by Strategy, Source: Chairman Michael Saylor via X.comWith his publication, Saylor clearly wants to prove that his team is capable of packaging volatile digital capital into predictable instruments protected against drawdowns. 

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The secret behind the resilience of the chart's leader, STRC shares, lies in an aggressive dividend policy: the board of directors keeps the security's market price near par by promptly adjusting payouts. Their rate was recently raised to 12% annually.

The Strategy lineup itself is divided into senior defensive tranches with fixed coupons (STRD, STRF) and hybrid convertible instruments (STRK), which allowed investor risks to be distributed during the market storm.

What Saylor leaves out of the performance chartHowever, the stability recorded on the chart comes at a price that the company is paying right now. To provide investors with these high double-digit payouts amid the prolonged decline in the cryptocurrency, Strategy was forced to violate its core doctrine of "perpetual accumulation."

In August 2026, the company continued regularly selling Bitcoin from its treasury, disposing of another $104 million worth of coins in its latest transactions. The company's total annual obligations to its security holders already exceed $1.2 billion.

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Considering the full context, it is unsurprising that independent analysts are urging investors to treat Saylor's marketing with caution, pointing to a serious opportunity-cost factor. 

While Strategy's debt instruments merely minimized losses from the crypto market decline, the traditional U.S. S&P 500 index rose 22% over the same 12-month period with incomparably lower volatility.

This Asset Class Will Become the Next Crypto, Says Billionaire Mark Cuban

Crypto trading platform Bits of Gold has suffered a data breach, with approximately 200,000 customer records potentially stolen.

Israel’s largest licensed crypto exchange, Bits of Gold, has suffered a data breach, with personal data of around 200,000 customers—nearly the platform’s entire user base—stolen by hackers. Bits of Gold was Israel’s first crypto company to obtain a Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license, receiving regulatory approval in September 2022. The specific types of leaked data have not been disclosed, but crypto brokers typically collect extensive identity information under KYC rules, including government-issued identification documents, address proofs, and financial details. The compromised data could be used for phishing, SIM swapping, and social engineering attacks. Additionally, Bits of Gold secured approval in April this year to issue the BILS stablecoin, which is pegged 1:1 to the Israeli shekel.

27 minutes ago

Inside details of US-Iran negotiations have been exposed, revealing that the Trump administration bypassed Iranian negotiating representatives to contact the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).

According to Axios, citing three people familiar with the discussions, U.S. negotiators encountered a major hurdle in mid-May while attempting to broker a war-ending deal with Iran: they could not verify whether the Iranian representatives at the table truly represented the influential Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). In response, Trump administration officials took an unusual approach—bypassing Iranian negotiators to directly reach out to senior IRGC leaders. The U.S. tapped Nechirvan Barzani, President of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, to oversee this secret backchannel. Barzani held a rare advantage: he was trusted by both U.S. and IRGC leadership. A key challenge complicating U.S.-Iran talks was Washington’s uncertainty over who actually holds decision-making authority in Iran. Though the two sides did eventually strike a memorandum of understanding, the deal quickly fell apart.

27 minutes ago

CZ refutes claims that Bitcoin will go to zero, stating that many have made incorrect judgments about cryptocurrencies.

Binance founder CZ has commented on the World Gold Council (WGC) CEO’s assertion that Bitcoin’s value will fall to zero. CZ noted that many people have previously made incorrect judgments about cryptocurrencies, adding that understanding this field takes time, and he himself cannot be 100% certain he is right—after all, we are only human. The WGC CEO said in a recent interview: “Personally, my view is that Bitcoin will drop to zero, but this stance is not because Bitcoin is opposed to gold.”

27 minutes ago

A crypto whale spent $153.6 million on an arbitrage trade, netting just $0.36 in profit.

According to monitoring by OnchainLens, a crypto whale that had been dormant for two years has suddenly become active, borrowing 816,400 WETH (valued at approximately $153.6 million) from Morpho and Spark to conduct arbitrage trading. The transaction generated $1.88 in revenue, paid $1.53 in fees, resulting in a net profit of just $0.36.

27 minutes ago

CZ's address did not actively destroy the Niulai token; instead, the token creator used the smart contract to forcefully transfer the tokens.

According to Arkham data, at around 16:15 today, three consecutive token burns occurred at CZ’s public donation address: 4,444 meme token “Niu Lai” (contract address starts with 0xD043B6, a namesake of the popularly traded 0xbee-started “Niu Lai” token), 4,444 meme coin MarsCoin, and 4,444 “Binance Life”.
Verification reveals the 4,444 Niu Lai meme tokens were not burned by CZ himself. The transaction initiator is the token creator (0xcf86..383), who deployed the contract and set privileged authorization, minted 1 billion tokens to his own address, transferred ~800 million tokens to CZ’s address, then used the transferFrom function to forcibly withdraw 4,444 tokens from CZ’s address to a black hole address to simulate CZ’s burn. CZ’s address had no authorization for this token or the initiator during this period. This tactic is not uncommon.
Previously, in 2025, the CAAB token project transferred 80% of its total supply directly to CZ’s donation address, promoting “CZ holdings” to push its market cap to a fake high in a short time and mislead investors. The SHORT token sent 99.9% of its total supply to CZ; after CZ “cleaned up” (burned) them, the token saw a short-term surge, allowing the project team to sell off their holdings.
BlockBeats reminds users that on-chain monitoring tools will directly label this transaction as “From: Changpeng Zhao”. A single burn hash cannot be taken as CZ’s endorsement, project participation, or active burning. Contract creators can move balances from other token holders’ addresses, carrying extremely high risks. Meme coins generally lack practical use cases and have highly volatile prices, so investment requires caution.

27 minutes ago

CZ burns 4,444 $币安人生 and 4,444 $MARSCOIN tokens

CZ(@cz_binance)'s public wallet burned 4,444 $币安人生 and 4,444 $MARSCOIN 1 hour ago.

27 minutes ago

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Strategy Chairman Michael Saylor has released the company’s annual performance report on digital credit instruments, presenting a detailed comparison between the returns on Strategy’s structured products and the price movement of Bitcoin. Saylor shared the results through his social media accounts, highlighting a notable divergence in outcomes for investors who opted for the firm’s financial instruments instead of direct exposure to the leading cryptocurrency.

Structured outperformance versus BitcoinAccording to data shared by Saylor, Bitcoin’s price dropped 47% over the past year. In contrast, Strategy’s flagship defensive security, the STRC instrument, delivered a net gain of 9% across the same period. The report also indicated that the company’s ecosystem of structured debt securities, built to withstand market downturns, managed to cushion investors against substantial losses seen in the spot Bitcoin market.

Over the past 12 months, Strategy’s core defensive instruments absorbed market shocks, while the STRC security achieved a 9% net return despite Bitcoin’s steep decline.

Saylor has emphasized his team’s ability to repackage volatile crypto assets into more stable, predictable financial products. This approach seeks to reduce risk for investors while delivering steady returns in fluctuating market conditions.

The STRC shares’ resilience has been grounded in an aggressive dividend policy. Strategy’s board of directors maintains the market price of STRC close to its nominal value by flexibly adjusting payouts. Recently, the annual dividend rate was raised to 12%, reflecting a proactive stance on investor returns.

Mini dictionary: STRC (Strategy Credit) is a structured digital debt instrument designed to provide predictable returns for investors by adjusting its dividends in response to market volatility.

Strategy’s portfolio is diversified between senior tranches with fixed coupon rates—such as STRD and STRF—and hybrid convertible securities labelled STRK. This structure allowed Strategy to spread investor risk even amid significant turbulence in cryptocurrency markets.

Payouts and sustainability concernsThe annual report also reveals the cost of this stability. In order to maintain double-digit payouts for investors during Bitcoin’s prolonged price slump, Strategy departed from its founding principle of “perpetual accumulation.” Since August 2026, the company has been steadily selling portions of its Bitcoin reserve, including $104 million worth of coins in its most recent transactions.

The company’s total annual payment obligations to holders of its structured products have now surpassed $1.2 billion. This financial commitment demonstrates the company’s determination to shield investors from volatility but also raises questions about the long-term sustainability of its payout policies.

Asset/Product12-Month ReturnAnnual Payout RateVolatility (Relative)Bitcoin (BTC)-47%NoneHighSTRC (Strategy Credit)+9%12%LowS&P 500 Index+22%VariesLowAnalysts urge cautionIndependent analysts have urged caution regarding Saylor’s claims, highlighting potential opportunity costs for investors. Although Strategy’s structured products minimized losses in the face of Bitcoin’s decline, they did not match the performance of traditional equity markets.

For example, the S&P 500 index, a benchmark tracking large-cap U.S. stocks, rose 22% over the same 12-month period, offering investors higher returns paired with comparatively low volatility. Some market watchers argue this raises questions about the attractiveness of crypto-linked structured products versus conventional investment vehicles.

Independent analysts note that, while Strategy’s products successfully limited direct exposure to crypto market losses, U.S. stock market benchmarks delivered stronger risk-adjusted returns during the same period.

Disclaimer: The information contained in this article does not constitute investment advice. Investors should be aware that cryptocurrencies carry high volatility and therefore risk, and should conduct their own research.