2021

David Hoffman, founding partner of Bankless Ventures, published a discussion on the "Bitcoin Buy Side Trophy," stating that the crypto market occasionally sees a single asset absorbing the capital shift from Bitcoin holders. The Bitcoin community has long maintained a consensus of "holding only BTC," with a scale of about $1.7 trillion; individual shifts usually go unnoticed, but when enough people turn to the same asset, it becomes contagious. He cited 2021's ETH as an example, where its market cap rose from about $12 billion at the bottom to about $554 billion at the top, and referenced Su Zhu's statement from October that year, indicating that some people specifically moved cold-stored Bitcoin to buy ETH, and some publicly known Bitcoin maximalists may privately hold ETH.He believes that ZEC in 2026 is similar to ETH in 2021, having formed a consensus point for some Bitcoin capital, with reasons including privacy, quantum, or as a hedge against Bitcoin exposure "just in case." ZEC's market cap rose from about $200 million to about $2.6 billion, which is still small relative to the $1.7 trillion BTC; the key lies in relative scale rather than dollar appreciation, as the buying pressure is driven by Bitcoin wealth. As long as a very small proportion of holders can be persuaded to allocate a small amount of ZEC, the buying pressure will continue; very few people skip BTC, ETH, and other crypto assets to buy based solely on ZEC's own merits.He also believes that NEAR will win the weaker "smart contract buy side" in 2026, with funds coming from more decentralized market participants. The crypto market has always prioritized value storage, with smart contract chains coming second; ETH's position is weaker than BTC's, and SOL's challenge to ETH is greater than any asset's challenge to BTC.

Cryptocurrency analyst Darkfost stated that the Bitcoin reserves held by known over-the-counter (OTC) platform addresses have dropped to a historical low, currently around 123,000 BTC, down from nearly 500,000 BTC in September 2021.The continuous decline in OTC reserves may have several reasons, including investors' preference for holding BTC long-term, a more decentralized structure of Bitcoin holdings, and participants like miners no longer primarily selling BTC through OTC channels. Additionally, some holders may prefer to sell directly on the open market. Regardless of the specific reasons, the significant reduction in OTC reserves means that there is increasingly less BTC available for sale outside the open market. If buyer demand shifts more towards purchasing directly from the open market, it may provide support for BTC prices.

The firmware vulnerability of the hardware wallet Coldcard in 2021 led to insufficient randomness in some recovery seeds. Since July 30, attackers have transferred approximately 1,600 to 1,800 Bitcoins from affected wallets, involving thousands of addresses, with a valuation exceeding 100 million dollars. Coldcard manufacturer Coinkite stated that it must be assumed that someone is using AI to review its public firmware. This vulnerability has existed for about five years, and whether AI was involved in the related attacks has not been confirmed.Shielded Labs researcher Taylor Hornby used Claude Opus 4.8 audit agent to discover a vulnerability in the Zcash Orchard shielded pool circuit that began in 2022, which could generate an unlimited amount of counterfeit ZEC without detection during testing. Developers completed the fix within a few days, and no theft of coins has been confirmed.Blockchain analysis company Chainalysis statistics show that the on-chain write volume carrying malware instructions and command control information has increased from an average of about 2.06 times to 11.1 times daily, a growth of 440%.

Bank of America strategists indicate that investor bullish sentiment has reached extreme levels, suggesting a reduction in exposure to risk assets. The Bull-Bear Index rose from 9.4 to 9.7, marking the highest level since 2021. The rise in the stock market, inflows into high-yield bond funds, and narrowing credit spreads are the reasons for the optimistic sentiment.Hartnett stated that we are still in the summer "withdrawal/rotation" phase, advising investors to reduce allocations to risk assets and shift towards defensive assets and the dollar.

According to Cointelegraph, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of Thailand has filed a criminal complaint against the digital asset exchange Bitkub Online and two former directors, Sakolkorn Sakavee and Thaweesap Rawan, accusing them of involvement in false reports related to a cyber attack in 2021.The SEC stated that a cyber attack in May 2021 resulted in the theft of 16 digital assets from Bitkub, valued at approximately 1.7 billion Thai Baht, or about 50 million USD. The regulatory agency claimed that Bitkub subsequently replenished the stolen assets before October 31, 2021, but the daily net capital flow reports submitted from May 10 to October 30, 2021, did not accurately reflect the reduction in assets.Bitkub stated on the X platform that the case stems from disclosure decisions made after the cyber attack in May 2021 and is not an act of fraud. The exchange claimed that the delay in disclosing the compromised wallet was to avoid a bank run, and the co-founder subsequently purchased an equivalent amount of digital assets to cover the stolen funds, with no financial losses incurred by the company or its clients. Bitkub was established in 2018 and is one of Thailand's major cryptocurrency exchanges. Bitkub's parent company is considering a potential initial public offering, including the possibility of listing in Hong Kong.

a16z crypto Paul Cafiero stated that the technology and cryptocurrency industries are entering the "Show Me" era, where the previous model of gaining market recognition through vision, white papers, tokens, and team backgrounds is failing. With regulatory scrutiny, incidents involving bad actors in the industry, the large-scale entry of traditional financial institutions, and the rapid deployment of AI products, the external audience's tolerance for "stories" has significantly decreased.He believes that after institutions like BlackRock, Fidelity, JPMorgan, and Franklin Templeton entered the cryptocurrency and tokenization space, the threshold for serious projects in the industry has been raised. Project teams now need to demonstrate real data, on-chain transaction volume, active users, revenue, retention, deployed integrations, and verifiable partnerships. He stated that in 2021, it might have been possible to impress the market with 80% vision and 20% facts, but now that ratio has reversed.

According to market news, Galaxy Research stated on the X platform that Bitcoin miners are giving up one after another, with mining difficulty dropping more than 20% from its historical peak. This is the largest decline in mining difficulty since 2021.

Binance Research stated on platform X that the on-chain leverage ratio of DeFi has risen to about 38%, which is on par with the levels of 2021, primarily driven by a contraction in total value locked (TVL) rather than new lending demand. The DeFi attack incident in April resulted in an outflow of about $13 billion in TVL. Despite the overall market correction, substantial deleveraging has not yet occurred.

According to a post by CLLCT founder Darren Rovell on the X platform, Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) #8554 was sold today for only $13,046, while this NFT was previously sold for $147,953 on November 5, 2021, representing a significant price drop of over 90%.Analysis suggests that this transaction reflects significant value fluctuations of some high-end NFTs during the market adjustment period.

Mike Novogratz, the founder of Galaxy Digital, stated in court at the Delaware Chancery Court that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) made it very difficult for the company’s $1.2 billion merger plan with BitGo in 2021. This merger was the largest cryptocurrency merger plan at the time. Galaxy Digital canceled the deal in August 2022, and BitGo is seeking $100 million in termination fees from Galaxy Digital.Mike Novogratz indicated that regulatory approval was unlikely to be achieved and that BitGo failed to provide the required financial information on time, thus losing the right to the $100 million termination fee. BitGo CEO Mike Belshe stated that BitGo had provided all necessary information. The trial is expected to conclude this week, and the judge will decide whether BitGo is entitled to the $100 million fee.

According to unfolded. Citing data from CryptoSlam, NFT sales in March totaled $105.9 million, setting the lowest monthly sales record since 2021.

According to CoinDesk, Bitcoin mining difficulty has been adjusted to 144.4 T, an increase of 15%, marking the largest percentage increase since 2021.Prior to this adjustment, mining difficulty had been reduced by 12% due to the impact of winter storms in the U.S. that forced miners to scale back operations. Currently, the total network hash rate for Bitcoin has rebounded to 1 ZH/s, while the price of Bitcoin has risen to around $67,000. Although the hash price is at a multi-year low of 23.9 PH/s, limiting miners' profit margins, large operators with low-cost energy are still actively mining. Among them, the mining operations in the United Arab Emirates hold approximately $344 million in unrealized profits. Additionally, some publicly listed mining companies are shifting their energy and computing power towards AI and high-performance computing data centers. For instance, Bitfarms (BITF) has announced a name change to downplay its Bitcoin identity and increase focus on AI infrastructure, while activist investor Starboard has urged Riot Platforms (RIOT) to further expand its AI data center business.

According to The Block, the Gangnam Police Department in Seoul, South Korea, recently discovered in an internal investigation that 22 bitcoins (currently worth about $1.5 million) seized since November 2021 have been transferred out of a USB cold wallet.Due to the suspension of the relevant investigation, the asset loss went unnoticed for a long time. The USB device involved was not stolen. The Gyeonggi North Provincial Police Agency has initiated an internal investigation to determine the specifics of the fund loss and whether any internal personnel are involved. The police declined to provide further details on the ongoing investigation.This discovery stems from a nationwide special inspection of seized property management initiated after the recent incident involving the loss of 320 seized bitcoins by the Gwangju District Prosecutor's Office. Local media reported that evidence management personnel at the Gwangju Prosecutor's Office lost the seized bitcoins due to mistakenly accessing a phishing website.

Analyst IT Tech stated in a report from CryptoQuant on Thursday that Bitcoin's seven-day average realized net loss has reached $2.3 billion, calling it "one of the largest panic sell-off events in Bitcoin's history, comparable to the 2021 crash, the 2022 Luna/FTX debacle, and the mid-2024 adjustment.""This scale of loss ranks among the top 3 to 5 in history," the analyst added, "There have been only a few instances in Bitcoin's history where such a level of panic selling has occurred." Bitcoin has plummeted nearly 50% from its all-time high of over $126,000 last October, currently trading around $66,600; it had previously dipped to a low of $60,000 on February 6 before recovering.

Economist and gold supporter Peter Schiff stated that Bitcoin has fallen below the $69,000 high set in November 2021. More importantly, priced in gold, Bitcoin's current price is 60% lower than it was at that time. Saylor invested $54 billion betting on Bitcoin and is currently down 9%, while MSTR's losses have only just begun to accumulate.

According to CryptoQuant data, the number of Ethereum transfers (14-day moving average) has reached 1.17 million. This level was previously observed near major market peaks in 2018 and 2021.Historical data suggests that such spikes often indicate peak volatility and potential chip distribution.

Economist and gold supporter Peter Schiff stated on social media that gold prices have once again surpassed $5000. Traders who shorted gold last week may face difficulties. Meanwhile, the price of Bitcoin has fallen to $76,000, currently equivalent to 15 ounces of gold, down 59% from the peak in November 2021. Priced in gold, Bitcoin is in a long-term bear market.It is reported that as a long-time gold supporter and Bitcoin critic, Peter Schiff has consistently held a negative view on cryptocurrencies.

According to Coin Bureau, since November 11, the total network hash rate of BTC has decreased by about 12%, marking the largest drop since October 2021.

Gold advocate and economist Peter Schiff tweeted, "Bitcoin is currently worth only 15.5 ounces of gold, down 57% from its peak in 2021, and just 10% higher than its peak in 2017. Despite Wall Street and the Trump administration's strong endorsement of Bitcoin, most Bitcoin holders would have seen greater returns if they had purchased gold or silver instead."