Cointelegraph

DoorDash plans to offer its users, “dashers” and merchants the option to use stablecoins in their transactions with the food delivery app, according to the Tempo blockchain.

In a Tuesday notice, Tempo said that together with DoorDash, it was “building stablecoin-powered payment infrastructure” in a move for its delivery drivers, also known as “dashers,” merchants, and users to settle transactions using digital currency. The blockchain cited payout speed, lower cross-border cost and transaction flexibility in its reasons for the integration, expected to apply to users in more than 40 countries. 

“If we can get merchants and Dashers their money faster, and do that in a way that's affordable for them, that's a no-brainer for the entire ecosystem,” said DoorDash co-founder Andy Wang.

Source: Tempo

Tempo announced the DoorDash integration as part of a larger move into stablecoins along with payments platform Stripe, investment firm Paradigm, Coastal Bank and fintech company ARQ.

While the delivery app previously announced moves into AI, the stablecoin infrastructure would represent a significantly large delivery app onboarding a digital asset payment rail for everyday settlements.

In February, DoorDash reported that it delivered 903 million orders in the fourth quarter of 2025, at a total value of $29.7 billion. The delivery platform is slated to report Q1 2026 results on May 6.

Payment companies continue to expand stablecoin infrastructure

In addition to its work with Tempo, Stripe agreed to purchase the stablecoin platform Bridge as part of a $1.1 billion deal in 2024.

Traditional credit card companies, including Visa and Mastercard, have reached similar agreements moving closer to stablecoins. Mastercard agreed in March to buy stablecoin infrastructure company BVNK for a reported $1.8 billion, while Visa expanded its stablecoin settlement platform in July to support additional stablecoins.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi

Blockchain.com has rolled out perpetual futures trading in its non-custodial DeFi wallet, allowing users to open leveraged positions directly from self-custodied Bitcoin used as collateral without transferring funds to an exchange.

According to Tuesday’s announcement, the feature is routed through decentralized derivatives exchange Hyperliquid and gives users access to more than 190 crypto markets with up to 40x leverage.

Perpetual futures are derivative contracts that allow traders to take leveraged positions on an asset’s price without an expiration date. Michael Selig, chair of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), said last month that the derivatives regulator plans to allow the contracts in the coming weeks.

Trades are executed while assets remain in the wallet, allowing users to open, manage and close positions without relinquishing control of private keys or relying on a custodial intermediary.

Blockchain.com said the product also allows accounts to be funded directly with Bitcoin (BTC) from the user’s wallet in a single transaction, avoiding conversions or transfers across platforms. The company said it expects to expand the offering with additional asset classes, including foreign exchange, stocks and commodities, in the near future.

Blockchain.com, launched in 2011 and based in Malta, is a crypto services platform offering wallets, trading and infrastructure tools for retail and institutional users.

Perpetual futures expand beyond crypto into multi-asset trading

Perpetual futures trading is expanding beyond cryptocurrencies into equities, commodities and other asset classes, as centralized and decentralized exchanges continue to broaden their offerings beyond digital assets.

In February, crypto exchange Kraken launched tokenized equity perpetual futures for non-US clients, offering 24/7 leveraged exposure to US stocks, indexes and commodities through crypto-based derivatives.

The following month, Coinbase launched stock-based perpetual futures for non-US users, offering leveraged, cash-settled exposure to major US equities as part of its push to expand 24/7 multi-asset trading.

On Tuesday, website The Information reported that prediction market platform Kalshi is exploring entry into crypto derivatives, with plans to offer perpetual futures trading in the United States.

Hyperliquid has also expanded beyond crypto-native markets. Data from the platform shows that commodity- and index-linked perpetual contracts, including oil, the S&P 500 and silver, rank among its most actively traded markets by volume, alongside major cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ether.

Top markets on Hyperliquid by 24-hour trading volume. Source: Hyperliquid.xyz

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?

Bitcoin (BTC) mid-size wallet inflows to Binance fell to 3,000–4,000 BTC, marking a multi-year low in sell-side activity from this cohort.

This coincides with Coinbase recording about 8,500 BTC in inflows from similar wallets on April 19, while other exchanges saw much smaller flows. Binance exchange Bitcoin inflows have also fallen to 2023 levels, but how is this significant to today’s market?

Binance BTC inflows cool sharply to 2023 levels

CryptoQuant data classifies mid-size wallets as the entities holding roughly 100–1,000 BTC, often linked to active traders and smaller institutions. These wallets tend to move coins to the exchanges during distribution periods, making their inflows a useful proxy for near-term selling intent.

Binance inflow structure by Investor size. Source: CryptoQuant

Crypto analyst Amr Taha noted that seven-day average Bitcoin inflows from this cohort into Binance have dropped to 3,000–4,000 BTC. This remains well below the deposits observed during April to May 2023, which ranged from 5,500 to 6,000 BTC.

The lowered inflow levels suggest reduced immediate sell-side pressure, as fewer coins are being positioned on the exchange, although inflows alone do not translate into active selling.

The chart shows no comparable surge from retail participants (1-100 BTC) either, with smaller wallets contributing limited inflows of less than 300 BTC on Tuesday. This indicates a contained flow profile rather than broad-based selling pressure.

Related: Bitcoin metrics line up bull signals with $78K the BTC price level to beat

Bitcoin flows on Coinbase dominate

The distribution of BTC inflows across exchanges provides another perspective. Data from CryptoQuant shows that mid-size investor inflows into Coinbase reached about 8,500 BTC on April 19, approaching levels last seen after the FTX exchange collapse in November 2022.

Bitcoin mid-size wallet inflows on Coinbase. Source: CryptoQuant

BTC activity across other exchanges remained relatively muted. Amr Taha noted that a broad distribution phase would typically reflect synchronized inflows across multiple exchanges, which is not evident in the current data.

A similar spike on Coinbase was observed on Jan. 14, shortly before Bitcoin declined from $95,000 to below $67,000 in February. However, the current conditions differ, as exchange inflows appear fragmented rather than market-wide, suggesting mixed sentiment rather than coordinated distribution.

Data from Bitcoin researcher Axel Adler Jr. also highlights a deeper shift in supply dynamics. Bitcoin’s 30-day net flow dropped to -300,000 BTC in March from +94,000 BTC in February, signaling a strong withdrawal phase. The metric stands near -98,000 BTC as of April 21, with outflows continuing at a slower pace.

Bitcoin 30D net flows. Source: CryptoQuant

Adler Jr. added that exchange reserves have declined for seven consecutive weeks, falling by over 105,000 BTC since early March. Notably, even during the April 2 pullback toward $67,000, there was no significant return of coins to exchanges. 

Related: Inside the ‘fake police raid’ that forced a $1M Bitcoin transfer

New York's attorney general has filed lawsuits against crypto exchange operators Coinbase Financial Markets and Gemini Titan for allegedly violating state gambling laws, according to court records cited by Reuters.

Copies of the complaints show the state alleges both exchanges failed to obtain licenses from the New York State Gaming Commission to operate their markets, Reuters reported. 

“Gambling by another name is still gambling, ​and it ​is not ⁠exempt from regulation under our state laws and Constitution,” Attorney General Letitia James said in a statement.

James said the lawsuit seeks to recover alleged illegal profits from operating prediction markets in the state, as well as restitution, and would bar Coinbase and Gemini from offering such products to individuals under 21 years of age.

Source: Office of New York State Attorney General

State regulators crack down on prediction markets

The move fits into a broader push by state regulators, including New York, to assert control over prediction markets, which occupy a fast-growing corner of crypto commerce that allows users to bet on real-world events.

Much of the recent scrutiny has centered on platforms like Polymarket and Kalshi, which have drawn questions over whether their products fall under financial regulation or gambling laws.

The tension has also reached the federal level. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has taken legal action against several states attempting to regulate prediction markets, arguing it has sole authority over the sector.

New York’s lawsuit underscores a key risk for crypto companies. Even as the federal stance has softened, state-level enforcement remains active. By targeting prediction-style markets, regulators may be opening a new front — one that could force platforms to rethink how these products are offered in major jurisdictions.

Nevertheless, not every company is taking it lightly. As Cointelegraph reported, Polymarket has filed a lawsuit against Massachusetts, arguing the state lacks authority to regulate prediction markets approved by the CFTC.

Source: Neal Kumar, chief legal office, Polymarket

Singapore fintech Nium has selected Coinbase to integrate USDC payments into its global network to send, receive and convert stablecoins to fiat across more than 190 countries through a single platform.

According to a Tuesday announcement, the integration uses Coinbase’s infrastructure for custody, liquidity and wallet services, enabling Nium’s customers to fund cross-border payouts in USDC and settle in either stablecoins or local currencies without relying on prefunded accounts.

Nium said the setup supports just-in-time settlement, allowing funds to be deployed at payout rather than held across multiple jurisdictions, and includes options to link stablecoin balances to card programs for real-world spending.

According to Nium, its network supports more than 100 currencies, with local collection in 40 markets, real-time payouts in over 100 corridors and more than 40 regulatory licenses worldwide.

The rollout follows the company’s recent launch of a platform that enables businesses to issue stablecoin-funded cards on Visa and Mastercard networks, with balances converted to fiat at the point of sale and settlement, compliance and integration handled through a single system.

USD Coin (USDC), a US dollar-pegged stablecoin launched in 2018 by Circle and Coinbase, is designed to maintain a 1:1 value with the dollar and is backed by cash and short-term US Treasury reserves.

According to DefiLlama data, it is the second-largest stablecoin by market capitalization, at around $78 billion, behind Tether’s USDT (USDT), which stands at roughly $188 billion.

Circle expands USDC use in cross-border payments

Circle has been expanding USDC’s role in cross-border payments through a series of partnerships aimed at integrating stablecoin settlement into existing financial networks.

In March, the company teamed with Sasai Fintech to expand USDC payments across African corridors, targeting remittances, business transactions and mobile wallets. In parts of Sub-Saharan Africa, remittance costs exceed 7%, well above the UN’s 3% target.

Earlier this month, Circle teamed up with Thunes to expand USDC settlement across its global payments network, enabling near real-time cross-border transfers while reducing reliance on prefunded accounts. The integration extends USDC-based liquidity across Thunes’ network, which spans more than 140 countries.

Recent data shows increasing USDC activity. A CEX.IO report earlier this month found the stablecoin’s supply grew by about $2 billion in the first quarter, while Tether’s USDT declined by roughly $3 billion, marking a divergence between the two for the first time since 2022.

Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

Stablecoin market cap. Source: DefiLlama

Market analysts said Bitcoin’s (BTC) latest rally to $78,000 means that the “uptrend has began,” but the upside could be capped at $84,000, based on several key metrics.

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin profitability metrics say that BTC has entered the early stages of a “real rally.”

BTC price recovery may face stiff resistance at $84,000, with a pullback likely.

Bitcoin profitability suggests BTC rally “has begun” 

Bitcoin’s recent price recovery toward $76,000 has pushed it more than 26% above its sub-$60,000 multi-year low reached on Feb. 6.

This was accompanied by an increase in the Spent Output Profit Ratio (SOPR), which hit an eight-month high of 2.87, after dropping as low as 0.62 in early February.

SOPR is a metric used to show whether Bitcoin investors have made a profit or loss compared to when they first held Bitcoin. This ratio has historically marked the short-term bottom for BTC when it hits its lowest point.

“The $BTC SOPR Ratio shows that $BTC has already broken out of the bottom and is rising,” CryptoQuant analyst CW8900 said in a Tuesday post on X, adding:

“The bottom for $BTC was formed last February. The rally is already in progress.”

Bitcoin SOPR. Source: CryptoQuant

Similarly, Bitcoin’s Net Unrealized Profit/Loss (NUPL), the difference between total profits and losses currently held by investors, has flipped positive for the first time since early January.

This suggests that the downtrend for Bitcoin has ended, and the “real rally of this cycle has begun,” CW8900 said in another X post.

Bitcoin NUPL. Source: CryptoQuant

This structurally resembles conditions seen in early stages of previous bull markets, where the NUPL recovered from extended periods below zero as Bitcoin embarked on a sustained rally.

1.1 million BTC at $84,000 could trigger sell-off

According to Bitcoin’s cost basis distribution data, investors hold approximately 1.1 million BTC at an average cost of $84,000, creating a potential resistance zone. This concentration suggests many investors may sell at break-even, potentially stalling Bitcoin’s upward momentum.

Bitcoin cost basis distribution chart. Source: Glassnode

As Cointelegraph reported, Bitcoin’s immediate resistance is at $78,000, where the true market mean currently sits.

The US spot Bitcoin ETF cost basis at $83,100 is seen as the next key hurdle. 

BTC: Average cost basis of US spot ETFs. Source: Glassnode

Analyst AlphaBTC said the BTC/USD pair might rise higher to fill the CME gap at $84,000, which was created at the start of February.

BTC/USD four-hour chart. Source: AlphaBTC

As Cointelegraph reported, a close above the $76,000-$78,000 resistance zone would confirm that the buyers are in control, clearing the path for a potential rally to $84,000.

Core Scientific is seeking to raise $3.3 billion in debt to support its expanding data center operations across the United States, as crypto miners increasingly pivot toward high-performance computing and artificial intelligence workloads amid tighter conditions in the mining sector.

The financing will come through senior secured notes due in 2031, the company disclosed Tuesday. The notes will be backed by Core Scientific’s assets, giving investors priority claims in the event of default. Unlike an equity raise, the offering allows the company to access capital without diluting existing shareholders.

Proceeds from the offering are expected to fund ongoing data center development and refinance existing short-term debt. 

In particular, Core Scientific plans to repay borrowings under its 364-day credit facility, effectively extending its debt maturities as it scales infrastructure. The company has identified expansion projects in Georgia, Texas, North Carolina and Oklahoma.

The proposed raise follows a separate $1 billion credit agreement with Morgan Stanley announced in March, underscoring Core Scientific’s push to secure long-term financing for its data center buildout.

Core Scientific (CORZ) shares were little changed in early Tuesday trading, extending a year-to-date rally of more than 37%. Source: Yahoo Finance

Core Scientific is among several crypto miners that have turned to leverage to expand beyond traditional bitcoin mining, particularly into high-performance computing and AI-focused data center services. Peers, including MARA Holdings, Riot Platforms and Hut 8 have pursued similar strategies, investing in infrastructure and partnerships to diversify revenue streams.

Meanwhile, IREN has pursued one of the most aggressive expansion strategies in the sector, spending roughly $800 million on data centers and related infrastructure in its most recent quarter.

Mining industry turns to partnerships

The crypto mining industry is increasingly turning to partnerships to finance and expand its footprint in AI and data center workloads. 

On Tuesday, Soluna Holdings, a publicly traded developer of renewable-powered data centers, announced an expanded partnership with Bitcoin mining infrastructure provider Blockware. The deal is expected to add 3.3 megawatts of capacity at Soluna’s West Texas colocation facility, which primarily hosts third-party mining operations.

The agreement marks Blockware’s fourth expansion with Soluna.

As Cointelegraph recently reported, Soluna is also expanding into AI workloads, including a $53 million investment in a wind farm to support those operations as mining revenues come under pressure.

Bitcoin (BTC) sought to match ten-week highs on Tuesday as market participants bet on a new short squeeze.

Key points:

Bitcoin is due a fresh short squeeze as funding rates uniquely stay negative as price grinds higher, say market pundits.

Short-term targets include a trip to $85,000 in the coming weeks.

Bitcoin bulls still need to clear the nearby 21-week trend line keeping price pinned since October 2025.

“Cannon is loaded” for Bitcoin short squeeze

Data from TradingView showed BTC/USD approaching $77,000 for the first time this weekly candle.

BTC/USD one-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

A slight comedown into the Wall Street open meant that price continued to coil below a large area of resistance.

Mixed signals over the US-Iran war continued on the day, with Iran denying that its delegations had arrived in Pakistan for a new round of negotiations with the US. As Cointelegraph reported, markets offered only a muted reaction to the latest closure of the Strait of Hormuz oil route.

Among Bitcoin traders, a sense of cautious optimism was slowly growing.

“A period of consolidation, but clearly upwards pattern,” crypto trader Michaël van de Poppe wrote in an X post. 

“This means that there's likely more upside to come for Bitcoin towards the $85,000 area.”

Van de Poppe gave a time frame of “two to three weeks” for that level to come into focus, reiterating earlier comments about Bitcoin’s correlation with the Nasdaq.

BTC/USDT 1-day chart. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Others focused on ongoing negative funding rates on exchanges, despite price rising.

“We've never actually gotten one when the chart was grinding up. NEVER. It only occurred during the local BOTTOMS,” trader Osemka noted on X alongside charts showing past negative funding periods.

Osemka suggested that “something is brewing beneath” the surface, just as BTC/USD eyed a reclaim of lost support.

Binance BTC/USDT futures 1-day chart. Source: Osemka/X

Responding, crypto market intelligence platform Decode agreed, seeing the potential for another short squeeze.

“What this tells you is that the market is heavily short and bearish, and Bitcoin is setting up for a short squeeze. The cannon is loaded, bulls just need to light the fuse…,” it told X followers.

CME gap thins with BTC up against resistance

Multiple lines in the sand for bulls lie immediately above the spot price.

These include the 21-week exponential moving average (EMA), true market mean, and average buy-in price for investors of the US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

BTC/USD one-day chart with 21-week EMA. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Trader Daan Crypto Trades observed that price had also filled the latest weekend “gap” in CME Group’s Bitcoin futures market.

“$BTC Closed a big part of the gap from this weekend but still not everything. Market still just following the headlines and no $STRC raises for now. So we will just patiently wait and see,” he commented.

CME Bitcoin futures one-hour chart. Source: Daan Crypto Trades/X

The nominee to lead the US Federal Reserve, Kevin Warsh, on Tuesday faced criticism and backlash from Democrats questioning his financial disclosures and potential conflicts of interest.

Heading into today’s Senate Banking Committee confirmation hearings, it was clear that the independence of the Fed remains a key issue for many lawmakers concerned about the President Donald Trump’s influence over any Senate-confirmed candidate. 

With Jerome Powell’s term as the US Federal Reserve Chair set to expire next month, lawmakers are scrambling replace the long-serving official. 

Under questioning from Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, the committee’s ranking member who repeatedly referred to Warsh as a “sock puppet” for the president’s policies, the prospective Fed chair sidestepped answering whether Trump lost the 2020 US election and identifying any issue on which the two disagree.

Warren said confirming Warsh could result in the Fed “granting special accounts to [the Trump family’s] crypto company or bailouts to his friends on Wall Street if they get into trouble” and create “more opportunities for Trump’s corruption.”

Warsh faced similar questions from Rhode Island Senator Jack Reed and other Democrats on his position on lowering interest rates — an action Trump has repeatedly called for and signaled his pick would push if confirmed.

“The president never once asked me to commit to any particular interest rate decision, period, and nor would I ever agree to do so if he had, but he never did,” said Warsh in response to a question from Republican Senator John Kennedy.

Kevin Warsh speaking at a Tuesday hearing. Source: Senate Banking Committee

The nominee faced at least one direct question on crypto from Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis, responding that digital assets were "part of the fabric of our financial services industry in the United States.”

Warsh has pledged to divest from his financial holdings, which include investments in crypto and AI companies, before taking the oath of office if confirmed. The potential conflicts of interest, coupled with Trump’s repeated attempts to oust Powell before his term expires, have many questioning whether any Fed chair picked by the president could remain independent.

“While we want the Fed to be independent, we also recognize that there has to be collaboration between the administration, Congress and the Fed,” said Committee Chair Tim Scott. “The independence is in making sure they do their job as it relates to the dual mandate.”

Prediction market users don’t anticipate a new Fed chair anytime soon

Powell’s term as chairman is set to end on May 15, giving lawmakers a matter of weeks to confirm Warsh or another Fed chair. He may be allowed to serve in a temporary capacity until his successor’s Senate confirmation, and will remain a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors until 2028.

The likelihood of a delay in Warsh’s confirmation is fueling an active event contract on prediction markets platform Polymarket, where many users are betting that the Senate may not act to confirm him until June. Some 37% of the positions gave took a chance he would be confirmed by May 15, while 78% are betting it won’t happen before June 30.

Active event contract on Kevin Warsh’s confirmation date. Source: Polymarket

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?

Bitcoin (BTC) rebounded above $76,000 on Tuesday, after the spot market demand on Coinbase exchange saw a second week of bullish volume trends.

Net spot buy volume has climbed sharply over the past 15 days, signaling sustained strength from bulls, but will BTC be able to turn the $75,000 level into a long-term support level?

Coinbase demand keeps spot volumes trending higher

The aggregated spot cumulative volume delta (CVD) continues to trend higher, rising to $517 million on Tuesday, up from $55 million on April 17. The broader CVD across spot and futures is above $8.5 billion, with BTC price consolidating just below $77,000 following Monday's recovery. 

BTC price, spot, and futures CVD and funding rate. Source: Velo.data

The buy-side remained elevated and flat, with no clear distribution or selling over the past 24 hours. BTC has held firm while spot demand has absorbed selling pressure, keeping the upward slope in CVD intact.

The funding rates are slightly negative at -0.003%, indicating traders are still leaning bearish, which may trigger a squeeze toward the upside.

Crypto analyst Ardi noted that Coinbase activity has played a larger role in BTC’s 12% recovery in April. “Coinbase premium has been doing more of the work in this range than people realize,” Ardi said, pointing to past rallies that aligned with sustained positive premiums. 

Bitcoin Coinbase Premium Analysis by Ardi. Source: X

The premium, currently at 0.05, now serves as an early signal of demand strength. Ardi explained that a flattening or shift back into negative territory would point to thinning order books, which may slow down bullish price action. 

Related: Bitcoin risks losing $70K as Strategy's STRC slips below $100

Should traders expect $88,000 in May?

From a technical standpoint, Bitcoin printed a bullish engulfing candle on Monday, reversing the 2.5% dip on Sunday and signaling renewed strength. The price also moved back above the 100-day exponential moving average (EMA) after last week’s first retest of the level in more than four months.

BTC/USDT on the one-day chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

On the higher time frame, Bitcoin continues to form higher highs and higher lows, keeping the trend intact. The focus now is on how the price behaves around $75,000, which could serve as a key inflection point. 

Liquidity remains concentrated below, with about $2.8 billion in cumulative leveraged positions between $73,000 and $75,000, forming a support range. The overhead supply near $76,000 to $78,000 stands at around $1.8 billion in short leveraged positions. 

Bitcoin liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass

MN Capital founder Michaël van de Poppe said the recent pullback aligns with a typical weekend pattern, with risk appetite returning as the markets reopened on Monday.

The analyst pointed to easing volatility and last week’s $1 billion in inflows into exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as supportive factors.

Van de Poppe added that continued strength near resistance could open the door to a move toward the $85,000 to $88,000 range in May, if broader conditions remain unchanged.

Bitcoin one-day analysis. Source: Michaël van de Poppe/X

Related: VIX drops 45% in three weeks: Is Bitcoin price ready to retake $80K?

Poland’s parliament, the Sejm, has yet to pass a domestic enabling act for the EU’s regulations on cryptocurrencies. 

The parliament has again failed to override a presidential veto on a key crypto regulation bill. President Karol Nawrocki defended his veto, citing concerns over excessive regulation that could harm small businesses. Opponents state that the lack of framework makes the Polish market vulnerable to fraud and free-for-all for illicit actors. The political path forward is unclear.

Outside the political arena, the reality is that Poland is the only EU member state left to implement the bloc’s Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulatory framework. The deadline for the transitionary period ends on July 1.

This already makes it difficult for local firms to stay competitive in Europe. But after July 1, if a solution isn’t forthcoming, it will be impossible. Some are already taking their business elsewhere and moving abroad.

Crypto industry, Polish president claim bill is burdensome

In November 2025, the Sejm passed the Crypto-Asset Market Act, which would update Polish law to comply with MiCA.

Local enterprise groups were not pleased with the result. In an October letter, the Warsaw Enterprise Institute, a business-focused think tank, outlined a few of the perceived problems with the law.

First was the length. Including draft secondary regulations, the total length was well over 300 pages. The Warsaw Enterprise Institute said that, while other EU member states were satisfied with just a few dozen pages, “the Polish law has several hundred articles and provides for additional regulations.”

It said the act introduces “a ban on marketing activities related to basic cryptocurrencies and the possibility of blocking websites by administrative decision, without the right to appeal to a court.”

“Such solutions are not justified by MiCA and put Polish companies in a worse competitive position compared to entities operating in other EU countries.”.

Of further concern was the role the Polish Financial Supervision Authority (KNF) would play under the new regime. Under the law, the KNF would be the sole regulator of the entire crypto market. It would have the power to levy heavy fines as well as maintain and enforce a blacklist of “unreliable” crypto domains that Polish ISPs would have to block. 

Not only would the KNF be incredibly powerful, but it is already notoriously slow. According to a payment institution peer review by the European Banking Authority, the KNF’s authorization times were the slowest in Europe. In an October letter, the Warsaw Enterprise Institute claimed that the KNF has only issued two licenses for brokerage houses in the last 10 years. In the same time period, it has only issued one electronic money institution license, while Lithuania has registered over 100. 

Source: European Banking Authority

On Dec. 1, 2025, Nawrocki vetoed the law, citing bloated regulation. The government failed to override the veto, and then reintroduced the exact same bill. Nawrocki vetoed the bill for a second time in February, and on April 17, the Sejm repeated itself in failing to overrule the veto.

Polish parliament struggles to find path forward for MiCA

The battle over the crypto bill shows no signs of stopping. 

Firstly, for Nawrocki, passing the bill after being reintroduced in the same form would have presented a political problem.

Piech told Cointelegraph, “Once the president had already argued that the bill breached constitutional principles and contained excessive, disproportionate and vague provisions [...] signing a near-identical version would have meant contradicting his own stated reasoning.”

“In that sense, the second push looked less like compromise and more like an attempt to pressure the president into a constitutional U-turn.”

Some in the crypto industry hailed the veto as Nawrocki sticking to his pro-crypto, sound regulatory principles.

“The veto is not anti-regulatory, it brings common sense back into the law-making process. [...] The industry did not ask for privileges. It asked for proportionality,” said Sławomir Zawadzki, co-CEO of Kanga Exchange.

Different coalitions and groups have attempted to introduce their own versions. According to Piech, Finance Minister Andrzej Domański said that the government started work yesterday on solutions for a new crypto-asset bill. 

In December, after the first veto, the Polska 2050 political party announced “an improved draft that is a step forward from the President's arguments, which, although far-fetched, are perhaps worth considering.”

Nawrocki himself has said he would submit a draft but the speaker in the Sejm has blocked the introduction of presidential proposals. 

The Confederation of Liberty and Independence and the Law and Justice have filed versions, while another political coalition, the Center Club, announced it would prepare another draft. 

Overall, Poland’s political class is “still deeply split on crypto.”

“This is no longer just a technical argument about implementing MiCA. It has become a broader fight over whether crypto should be brought into a normal legal framework, or treated as a politically suspicious sector that can be overregulated, stigmatised or used as a proxy battlefield after the Zonda Crypto controversy,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, himself a member of the Civic Coalition, has accused local exchange Zonda Crypto of illicit funding and ties to Russian criminal networks. It has undergone a funding crisis, pausing withdrawals, and has reportedly lobbied against the bill. 

The founder of BitBay (now Zonda Crypto), Sylwester Suszek, went missing in 2022. After his disappearance, the exchange entered a funding crisis. Source: Yaguar

Tusk also claimed that it “sponsors political and social events in Poland and promotes very specific political forces,” including the opposition far-right Law and Justice party, of which Nawrocki is a member.

Zonda Crypto did not respond to Cointelegraph’s request for comment. 

Polish crypto companies look abroad

For companies in Poland, passing a new law by the end of the MiCA transitional period on July 1 may be a case of shutting the barn doors after the horses have bolted. 

Said Piech, “A new law may still matter institutionally, especially for banks and larger financial institutions that may want to enter crypto once there is a clear legal path. But for all existing Polish crypto firms, it is already very late.”

Some domestic crypto firms are already looking abroad. Crypto exchange Kanga is considering a move to Latvia, “a country whose representatives have openly used conferences in Poland to attract crypto firms, offering a MiCA-friendly regime, faster procedures and relatively low supervisory fees,” per Piech. 

Robert Wojciechowski, president of the Polish Chamber of Commerce for Blockchain and New Technologies, said, “Since we founded the chamber, about 70-80 percent of companies have sailed abroad. Now my colleagues say they are talking to the Czech Republic to move their business there.”

The Chancellery of the President has itself raised the alarm, stating that, “Overregulation is a guaranteed way to push companies abroad — to the Czech Republic, Lithuania or Malta — instead of creating conditions for them to operate and pay taxes in Poland.”

Zonda Crypto CEO Przemysław Kral has previously told Cointelegraph, “Although we are a company with Polish roots and the largest player in the crypto industry on the Polish market, we have been operating outside Poland for years.”

“We are confident that we will remain a key player on the market. However, many small Polish crypto companies will lose the opportunity to operate on the market,” he said.

Now it’s a race against the clock, as July 1 draws closer. Piech doesn’t see a “realistic chance” for a bill to pass, and if it doesn’t, “domestic firms without a functioning Polish route are left at a structural disadvantage.”

Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

Cryptocurrency offerings are starting to influence how European investors are choosing their bank providers, but regulatory uncertainty continues to hinder mainstream adoption, according to a new survey.

A Börse Stuttgart Digital survey released Tuesday found that 35% of European investors would consider switching banks if another institution offered better cryptocurrency investment options, suggesting crypto is starting to influence how some customers choose financial providers.

Nearly one in five respondents said they expect their main bank to offer crypto access within the next three years, according to the survey, which covered about 6,000 investors in Germany, Italy, Spain and France. The findings suggest crypto is moving closer to the mainstream banking relationship, at least among investors already open to digital assets.

Still, regulations and a lack of education remain the biggest hurdles to adoption, with 76% seeing crypto assets as insufficiently regulated, while over 60% feel poorly informed about digital assets.

MiCA increased trust in digital assets for nearly half of European investors

European Union regulation appears to be helping on that front. The EU’s Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) went into full effect for crypto asset service providers on Dec. 30, 2024.

Nearly half of the surveyed investors said that the MiCA framework increased their trust in digital assets, making them “safer and more attractive.”

“Trust and clear regulation are essential for the next phase of crypto adoption in Europe. With MiCAR bringing transparency and legal certainty, investors gain the clarity they expect,” said Matthias Voelkel, the CEO of Börse Stuttgart Group.

The results land as traditional financial institutions across Europe keep inching deeper into crypto. Börse Stuttgart Digital said in January 2025 that it had become the first German provider of crypto asset services to receive an EU-wide MiCA license through its custody subsidiary, positioning itself as a regulated infrastructure provider for banks, brokers and asset managers.

Spain leads European crypto adoption

Among the surveyed countries, Spain showed the highest crypto adoption rate with nearly 28% of investors already owning digital assets. Germany was second with 25%, Italy followed with 24% and France with 23%.

Of the respondents, 25% said they had already invested in crypto, and 36% said they are likely to invest again within the next five years, showing “sustained interest despite market volatility,” according to the report.

Top countries within the wider European region by total value received, July 2024 - June 2025. Source: Chainalysis

According to a Chainalysis report published in October 2025, Russia had the largest crypto market in Europe with $376 billion of value received between July 2024 and June 2025, trailed by the United Kingdom with $273 billion and Germany with $219 billion.

Magazine: Will the CLARITY Act be good — or bad — for DeFi?

A man posing as a delivery driver allegedly tried to extort a crypto investor at gunpoint in a suburb of Montpellier, in what local media describe as the first reported crypto-motivated home invasion in France’s Hérault region. 

According to French outlet Actu.fr, the suspect gained access to the family home in Saint-Jean-de-Védas on April 11, pulled out a handgun and forced the parents and their children into a room before the father overpowered him during a struggle in which a shot was fired. 

No one was injured, and investigators from the Montpellier research section of the Gendarmerie later identified and arrested a 25-year-old suspect, who has since been charged and remanded in custody while police examine whether he acted alone.

The case comes amid a surge in so-called “wrench attacks,” in which criminals use threats or violence to force crypto holders to hand over funds or seed phrases, bypassing digital safeguards. France has emerged as one of the countries worst hit by these assaults, with at least 41 crypto-linked kidnappings and home invasions so far this year. 

France emerges as wrench attack epicenter

France’s wrench attack incidents amount to roughly one every 2.5 days, after such attacks jumped 75% in 2025 to 72 global cases in a single year and millions of dollars in confirmed losses, with France recording the highest number for a single country. 

French tech outlet Generation-NT reported on Tuesday that, beyond victims’ social media footprints, police and cybersecurity specialists increasingly suspect some gangs are compiling target lists from leaked customer data, giving them information on who holds significant crypto and where they live. 

Those concerns have been sharpened by recent leaks at crypto companies. In January, hardware wallet manufacturer Ledger said a breach at its payment partner Global‑e had exposed names, contact details and order information for some hardware wallet buyers, effectively creating a new, high-quality list of confirmed crypto users tied to physical addresses.

Total wrench attacks per country. Source: Gart.io

Kidnappings span fake raids and ransom plots

Recent French cases have ranged from fake police raids to ransom kidnappings. In February, police arrested six suspects over the abduction of a magistrate and her mother in a plot to extort crypto from the magistrate’s partner, a digital asset entrepreneur. Another investigation in March detailed assailants posing as officers who forced a French couple to transfer close to $1 million in Bitcoin (BTC) under threat of violence.

French officials say crypto crime is shifting from code-based exploits to physical coercion. At Paris Blockchain Week, French minister Jean-Didier Berger said the government had launched a prevention platform for crypto holders and was working with the Interior Ministry on wider measures in response to the wave of kidnappings and home invasions tied to digital assets.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

A group of European financial companies and industry bodies have urged European Union officials and lawmakers to fast-track changes to blockchain rules, warning the region risks falling behind the US in tokenized finance.

In a joint letter on Tuesday, 39 signatories, including Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart, called on the European Commission and Parliament to carve out the DLT Pilot Regime from a broader legislative package and review it as a standalone law, according to a copy of the letter shared by crypto association Adan.

The group argued that folding the regime into the wider Market Integration and Supervision Package could delay reforms needed to keep pace with global developments. “Negotiations are likely to be lengthy,” the letter, addressed to Financial Services Commissioner Maria Luis Albuquerque, said, adding that delays “risk dampening Europe’s momentum in DLT adoption.”

The DLT Pilot Regime is an EU framework launched in 2023 that lets financial firms test blockchain-based trading and settlement of assets like stocks and bonds under real market conditions. It acts as a regulatory sandbox, allowing temporary exemptions from certain rules so companies can experiment with tokenized finance.

EU firms push to expand DLT Pilot Regime limits

The group is pushing for a series of changes to the current pilot regime, including expanding the range of eligible assets, raising the overall volume cap to 150 billion euros ($176 billion), removing time limits on licenses and the removal of time limitation on licences. “These pragmatic adjustments enjoy broad support among market participants across Europe,” the letter claims.

Under the current regime, only relatively small financial products can be tested on blockchain systems, including shares from companies valued under $588 million, bonds with issuance sizes below $1.17 billion and investment funds with assets under $588 million.

39 signatories of the letter. Source: Adan

The US has moved to integrate tokenized securities into its existing financial system, with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) clarifying that broker-dealers can custody tokenized stocks and bonds under current investor protection rules. The regulator has also issued a no-action letter enabling a Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation subsidiary to launch a service that tokenizes real-world assets held in custody.

Cointelegraph reached out to Nasdaq and Boerse Stuttgart for comment, but had not received a response by publication.

EU tokenization firms ask for changes to DLT Pilot Regime

In February, a group of European tokenization and market infrastructure firms also urged EU policymakers to urgently update the DLT Pilot Regime, warning that strict asset limits, low issuance caps and time-bound licenses are holding back the scaling of regulated onchain markets.

In a joint letter, a group of 9 companies, including Securitize, 21X and Boerse Stuttgart Group, argued that without a “quick fix” to the pilot regime, liquidity and market activity could shift to the US, weakening Europe’s position in digital capital markets.

Magazine: Bitcoin will not hit $1M by 2030, says veteran trader Peter Brandt

The United Kingdom is revisiting its payments rulebook to support the adoption of new fintech and payment technologies such as stablecoins and tokenization.

In a Tuesday announcement, HM Treasury and Economic Secretary to the Treasury Lucy Rigby said the government will consult on reforms for payment services and electronic money rules.

The Treasury said the changes are meant to create a single framework for traditional and tokenized payments, including stablecoins and tokenized deposits. It also said it plans to bring forward legislation to reduce administrative burdens for companies seeking to offer stablecoin payment services.

The Treasury also named former Financial Conduct Authority veteran Chris Woolard as digital markets champion for its Wholesale Financial Markets Digital Strategy, where he will support efforts to drive adoption of tokenized digital assets.

Woolard highlighted the growing role of digitization in financial markets, emphasizing that collaboration and a dialogue between the private and public sectors will best support the UK’s global competitiveness as a leader in digital markets.

The package comes as the UK continues to develop its broader crypto regulatory framework, with legislation expected to take effect in 2027.

A package of comprehensive measures targeting digital markets

The new package was unveiled during UK Fintech Week in London, a series of industry events supported by organizations such as Innovate Finance, the independent industry body for the UK fintech sector.

A key part of the plan is bringing stablecoins and tokenization more deeply into the payments system, including through regulatory reform as a core measure.

Source: Lucy Rigby

“This will mean establishing a single, coherent framework for both traditional and tokenised payments, including both stablecoins and tokenised deposits,” the announcement said.

The Treasury also said it wants to reduce administrative burdens for companies seeking to offer stablecoin payment services in a move to “cement the UK as a world-leading destination for digital assets.”

UK will seek how to adapt payment regulations to AI agents 

Another part of the package is the government’s decision to explore how payment regulation should apply when AI agents make transactions on behalf of consumers or businesses.

Philip Belamant, co-founder of Zilch, an FCA-authorised consumer credit fintech listed among key stakeholders, said that AI will “fundamentally change how people interact with money,” shifting payments to something that is managed in the background.

“As this becomes a reality, it’s critical that regulation evolves to support innovation while maintaining strong consumer protections,” he said.

Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026

South Korea’s National Tax Service (NTS) has opened a tender for software licenses to track virtual asset transactions as part of tax evasion enforcement, according to a government procurement notice.

The notice said the contract is for “virtual asset tax evasion response transaction-tracking software licenses,” with a budget of 146.5 million won (around $99,500), including value-added tax and delivery due within 30 days of contract signing. Bid submissions are scheduled for April 28 to April 30, with proposal evaluation set for May 7.

The procurement notice itself gives limited detail on the software’s technical scope. However, citing an official from the NTS scientific investigation unit, local outlet ZDNet Korea reported that the software would allow officials to monitor crypto transactions in real time, visualize transfers between specific wallet addresses and exchanges, and support probes into hidden assets, offshore tax evasion and unreported inheritance or gift transfers.

The tender follows earlier local reporting that South Korea was preparing a broader AI-based crypto monitoring system ahead of the country’s planned 2027 tax rollout.

South Korea expands enforcement capabilities ahead of crypto tax rollout

The tax agency’s push for a crypto monitoring tool appears to be part of a broader effort to expand enforcement capabilities as the country prepares for an upcoming rollout of a crypto tax. 

On March 12, local media The Korea Times reported that the NTS opened a bid for an AI-backed system to analyze crypto transaction data. The agency reportedly aims to establish a platform that can process large volumes of crypto trading data to monitor potential tax evasion.

South Korea’s crypto tax rollout is currently expected to take effect in January 2027 after several delays. Under the policy, gains above 2.5 million won (about $1,700) would be subject to a combined 22% levy, made up of a 20% income tax and an additional 2% local tax.

The tax rollout remains politically contested. On March 19, South Korea’s main opposition People Power Party proposed scrapping the planned tax on crypto gains, arguing the policy raises fairness, double-taxation and enforcement concerns.

Magazine: 53 DeFi projects infiltrated, 50M NEO tokens could be ‘given back’: Asia Express

Private key compromises are emerging as one of crypto’s costliest attack vectors, with hackers stealing more than $17 billion across 518 recorded incidents over the past decade, according to data platform DefiLlama.

In data shared Tuesday, DefiLlama’s dashboard shows a large share of those incidents stemmed from compromised private keys, alongside phishing and other credential-based attacks. The figures add to evidence that some of the industry’s biggest losses are increasingly coming from weaknesses in wallet security, signing infrastructure and user behavior, rather than from flaws in protocol code alone.

The findings come days after the crypto industry suffered its largest hack so far in 2026 on Saturday, when an attacker drained about 116,500 restaked Ether (rsETH), worth roughly $290 million to $293 million at the time, from Kelp DAO’s LayerZero-powered rsETH bridge.

Source: DefiLlama

DeFi protocols lost $600 million in two months: GSR Research

The recent wave of losses has also hit decentralized finance hard. More than $600 million was stolen from DeFi protocols over the past 60 days, according to a Monday report from crypto trading company GSR, with the Kelp exploit and the April 1 exploit involving Solana-based decentralized exchange Drift Protocol accounting for most of the total.

The attacks are raising new questions about whether improving smart contract audits alone is enough to protect users. In its report, GSR said attackers appear to be shifting toward “operational security, signing infrastructure, developer tooling, and the humans behind them” as smart contract security continues to improve.

That shift is pressuring a sector already facing narrower returns. “DeFi yields have compressed toward TradFi rates, raising the question of whether depositing onchain is still worth the risk,” GSR wrote.

Major DeFi exploits. Source: GSR Research

“Lazy” hacks are spreading due to AI and malware

Cybersecurity companies say advances in malware and artificial intelligence are making social engineering and wallet-targeting attacks easier to scale, which involve scammers tricking victims into sending crypto to illicit addresses by first sending them small transactions, hoping that investors copy and paste the attacker’s address from the transaction history.

The rise of hacking-as-a-service tools is also lowering the barrier to entry for would-be attackers, according to Dyma Budorin, co-founder and CEO of cybersecurity firm Hacken.

“If people are getting these links, their wallets can be completely drained,” Budorin told Cointelegraph in an interview at EthCC 2026. “The platform on the darknet will take the commission for their tools and [scammers] get the bigger portion of the drained wallets.”

Budorin added that hackers are usually seeking out the easiest targets that require the least effort to scam.

Dyma Budorin, co-founder and CEO at Hacken, interview at EthCC 2026. Source: Cointelegraph

Web3 projects lost $482 million in the first quarter of 2026, as phishing and social engineering scams drove $306 million of those losses as the largest attack vector, according to a report by Hacken.

Even so, some parts of the threat picture have improved. Scam Sniffer said in a January report that losses tied to crypto phishing attacks fell sharply in 2025, suggesting users were becoming more aware of the threat, even as wallet-drainer scripts and new malware strains continued to circulate.

Magazine: 53 DeFi projects infiltrated, 50M NEO tokens could be ‘given back’: Asia Express

Banks are moving onchain through competing models that take different approaches to how financial rules are enforced.

On the one hand are blockchain-native builders like Matter Labs co-founder Alex Gluchowski, who argue that financial systems require rules to be enforced across all participants. On the other are institution-led networks like Canton, which prioritize privacy, control and interoperability over global state.

Gluchowski is among the most vocal critics of the latter approach, arguing it reproduces the limitations of traditional finance in a new form. The core of the critique is whether rules can be enforced across an entire network. That’s not possible in systems like Canton, he claimed.

“But they are possible with blockchains — specifically with zero-knowledge systems anchored to public blockchains like Ethereum, which is an environment all parties can trust because it cannot be captured by any single corporate interest,” Gluchowski told Cointelegraph.

Crypto’s institutional adoption is bringing banks and financial institutions onchain, but it’s also splitting the industry along a deeper fault line than geography or regulation.

Canton rose into the top 21 cryptocurrencies despite criticism from decentralization purists. Source: CoinGecko

What counts as a blockchain?

Canton has gained traction by targeting privacy and regulatory requirements, connecting banks and asset managers through a network where transactions are shared only with relevant counterparties rather than broadcast system-wide. The network includes institutional participants such as JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs.

Whether Canton counts as a blockchain depends on how the term is defined and what properties it is expected to guarantee.

For Gluchowski, a blockchain’s core feature is a single shared ledger that allows rules to be enforced across all participants at once. He claimed Canton does not qualify. The network connects institutions through bilateral or trilateral relationships, where each party sees and verifies the transactions it is directly involved in. 

“Before blockchains, banks had to enter bilateral relationships and define how they handle edge cases through contracts and API interactions,” Gluchowski said. “It’s just taking these existing relationships and workflows and putting them into a tokenized form.”

Gluchowski said Canton’s model limits what the system can guarantee. While participants can verify the transactions they are directly involved in, they cannot independently verify system-wide properties such as total asset supply or other rules that apply across all users. He added that those kinds of guarantees require a shared state that everyone can check.

Digital Asset co-founder details how Canton differs from legacy systems in practice. Source: Shaul Kfir

“[Gluchowski] is correct that Canton does not have a global shared state, but he is incorrect in implying that this negatively affects Canton’s trust model,” Shaul Kfir, co-founder of Digital Asset, responded through a statement shared with Cointelegraph.

“In Canton, as in all other blockchains, I only trust my own validator and assume anyone else can be malicious. This ‘don’t trust, verify’ approach is very different from a distributed API system,” Kfir added.

In Canton’s model, trust does not come from a single system-wide view, but from each party independently checking the transactions it is involved in.

Network rules clash with issuer control

Following the conversation with Cointelegraph, Gluchowski took part in a live debate with another Digital Asset co-founder, Yuval Rooz. He reiterated his argument that financial rules must be enforced across an entire network in a blockchain network.

Rooz countered that system-wide enforcement doesn’t eliminate reliance on trusted parties, as public blockchain users still depend on token issuers. Rooz pointed to hacks that involved assets like USDC to argue that issuers remain the key enforcement mechanism.

The industry has repeatedly called for Circle to freeze stolen funds before illicit actors trade them for decentralized assets. Source: ZachXBT

“Actually, we would have been happier — as we've seen a lot of the crypto space saying if the centralized issuer were to intervene sooner rather than allowing these assets being traded and swapped into permissionless assets where then they can no longer interfere,” Rooz said.

“On Canton, no different than any other public chain, the issuer is centralized in real world assets, and they have different properties or similar properties to what they would have on public permissionless chains,” he added.

Gluchowski argued that issuance limits can be embedded directly into smart contracts. He said that on networks like Ethereum, activity beyond a certain threshold can be restricted or require additional approval, rather than relying solely on the issuer’s infrastructure.

“On Canton, you rely solely on the multisig. On Ethereum, you rely on smart contracts that are enforced by the network,” Gluchowski said.

“It's just absolutely not true,” Rooz replied.

Kfir, whose statement was shared with Cointelegraph after the live debate, said that Gluchowski is “confusing the capabilities of Canton” with how it is used by centralized RWA issuers. 

“When there’s a centralized RWA issuer, e.g. a stablecoin issuer, you’re already trusting them with the ‘mint’ function, and you’re trusting them and their auditors that the amount onchain is backed by reserves off-chain,” Kfir said.

Competing visions for bringing banks onchain

Canton and Matter Labs are competing to solve the same problem of how institutional finance moves onchain. Matter Labs, the developer of ZKsync, is targeting institutional use cases with Prividium, a model that keeps transactions private while anchoring verification to Ethereum through zero-knowledge proofs.

Kfir argued that systems like Prividium risk concentrating trust in a different place. In his view, users are no longer independently validating the relevant state, forcing them to reconcile their own records against what an operator reports happened onchain.

“ZKsync relies on Prividium operators who create ZKPs, but ZKsync’s own open source client doesn’t verify these proofs,” he said. “And even if a user does verify, it doesn’t verify which smart contract logic is running. The user is completely at the mercy of the Prividium operator.”

Gluchowski defended ZK technology in a February social media exchange with Rooz. Source: Alex Gluchowski

Rooz did concede one point during the debate, which is that Canton does not have public verifiability, while adding that there are plans to introduce it in the future.

For now, the divide remains unresolved. Canton is built around privacy and institutional control, while ZKsync’s Prividium attempts to preserve those features while anchoring verification to a public network. Both claim to offer a viable path for bringing banks onchain, but they are built on fundamentally different assumptions about how financial systems should work.

Magazine: Adam Back says current demand is ‘almost’ enough to send Bitcoin to $1M

XRP’s (XRP) 28% rebound from its macro low at $1.12 pushed it above its realized price. In other words, the average XRP holder is no longer in the red.

Is this enough fuel for the bulls to push the altcoin’s price to $2.24?

Key takeaways:

XRP holders are back in profit after reclaiming its realized price at $1.41. 

XRP’s symmetrical triangle projects a 55% rally to $2.40.

XRP trades above its cost basis

Data from TradingView shows the XRP/USD pair trading at $1.44, up 1.6% over the last 24 hours and 5% over the last seven days. 

This means XRP is holding above its realized price, the average cost of all coins based on when they last moved, currently at $1.41, according to data from Glassnode. 

The average XRP holder returning to profit after unrealized losses provides meaningful financial relief for many holders, signaling a bullish outlook.

Historically, breaking above this level shifted market sentiment from “fear,” reducing sell pressure from underwater holders and encouraging holding.

The chart below shows that when the price reclaimed its realized price after hovering below it for a few months in mid-2024, it rallied 460% to $2.90 from $0.52.

XRP realized price. Source: Glassnode

Holding above $1.40 is crucial for the bulls to ensure a potential upward breakout.

On the upside, the key levels of resistance to watch out for are the 111-day moving average (MA) at $1.57, the 200-day MA at $1.88 and the 365-day MA at $2.22, based on XRP’s technical pricing model.

XRP technical pricing model. Source: Glassnode

XRP’s symmetrical triangle targets $2.40

XRP has been consolidating within a symmetrical triangle for more than two months, as shown in the chart below.

The XRP/USD pair must break and close above the upper trend line of the triangle at $1.46 to continue the upward trajectory.

The measured target of the pattern, calculated by adding the triangle’s height to the breakout point, is $2.24, 55% above the current price.

XRP/USD 12-hour chart. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView

Technical analyst and trader ChartNerd said the moving averages between $1.35 and $1.40 “need to be held” to keep the bullish outlook in play. 

XRP/USD daily chart Source: X/ChartNerd

As Cointelegraph reported, buyers will have to achieve a daily candlestick close above the upper trendline of a descending parallel channel at $1.60 to confirm a potential trend change.

The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), a preferred Wall Street metric to measure investor sentiment and market risk, dropped by over 45% in under a month. For Bitcoin (BTC), this could be a significant bullish signal.

VIX daily performance chart. Source: TradingView

Key takeaways:

Bitcoin may rise toward $82,700 if VIX keeps underperforming.

BTC’s upside outlook gets a boost from Strategy’s BTC buying spree.

Weakening VIX hints at BTC rising to $82,700

Often called Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” the VIX tracks how much volatility traders expect in the S&P 500 index over the next 30 days.

When the index rises, it usually signals rising stress and risk aversion across markets. When it falls, it suggests investors are becoming more comfortable owning riskier assets such as stocks and crypto.

History suggests that a VIX drop of 40% or more is bullish for Bitcoin.

For instance, BTC rallied approximately 40% during April 2025–May 2025, with its gains aligning with the VIX’s 70% dip.

BTC/USD and VIX daily chart. Source: TradingView

Similarly, a 46% VIX drop during the October–November 2025 period coincided with a 12% BTC gain.

Even the recent 42%–47% VIX decline has coincided with an 8%–9% BTC price rebound, improving the bullish backdrop for Bitcoin in the coming days.

BTC’s next upside target appears to be around the 200-day exponential moving average (200-day EMA, the blue line) at around $82,700 by early May.

What happens to Bitcoin if VIX starts rising?

A rising VIX is typically bearish for risk assets like Bitcoin. However, that correlation broke briefly in March, according to a chart highlighted by wealth management firm Swissblock.

BTC and VIX rose in tandem during the US–Iran escalation in March. In comparison, the broader risk market, including US equities, underperformed.

Bitcoin and VIX performance comparison. Source: Swissblock

One potential catalyst behind Bitcoin’s resilience may have been Strategy’s aggressive BTC buying, which has absorbed the equivalent to nearly 30 weeks of new coin supply since March.

“Bitcoin has already shown inherent strength in a very complex environment”, Swissblock said, adding:

“Do not be surprised if it starts to outperform on its own again.”

Nonetheless, any slowdown in Strategy’s buying could weaken Bitcoin’s support during periods of rising VIX, increasing the risk of downside.

Multiple analyses suggest BTC may drop below $50,000 in 2026.