Category: Cryptocurrency News

Several years back, many in the crypto community described Bitcoin as a “safe-haven” asset. Fewer are calling it that today.A safe-haven asset maintains or increases in value in times of economic stress. It can be a government bond, a currency like the US dollar, a commodity like gold, or even a blue-chip stock. A spreading global tariff war set off by the United States, as well as troubling economic reports, have sent equity markets tumbling, and Bitcoin too — which wasn’t supposed to happen with a “risk off” asset. Bitcoin has suffered compared with gold, too. “While gold prices are up +10%, Bitcoin is down -10% since January 1st,” noted the Kobeissi Letter on March 3. “Crypto is no longer viewed as a safe haven play.” (Bitcoin dropped even further last week.)But some market observers are saying that this wasn’t really unexpected.Bitcoin (white) and gold (yellow) price chart from Dec. 1 to March 13. Source: Bitcoin Counter FlowWas Bitcoin ever a safe haven?“I have never thought of BTC as a ‘safe haven,’” Paul Schatz, founder and president of Heritage Capital, a financial advisory firm, told Cointelegraph. “The magnitude of the moves in BTC are just too great to be put in the haven category although I do believe investors can and should have an allocation to the asset class in general.”“Bitcoin is still a speculative instrument for me, not a safe haven,” Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets (Germany), told Cointelegraph. “A safe haven investment like gold has an intrinsic value that will never be zero. Bitcoin can go down 80% in major corrections. I wouldn’t expect that from gold.”Crypto, including Bitcoin, “has never been a ‘safe haven play’ in my opinion,” Buvaneshwaran Venugopal, assistant professor in the department of finance at the University of Central Florida, told Cointelegraph.But things aren’t always as clear as they first appear, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Related: Bitcoin dominance hits new highs, alts fade: ResearchOne could argue that there are different kinds of safe havens: one for geopolitical events like wars, pandemics, and economic recessions, and another for strictly financial events like bank collapses or a weakening dollar, for instance. The perception of Bitcoin may be changing. Its inclusion in exchange-traded funds issued by major asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity in 2024 widened its ownership base, but it may also have changed its “narrative.”It is now more widely seen as a speculative or “risk on” asset like a technology stock.“Bitcoin, and crypto as a whole, have become highly correlated with risky assets and they often move inversely to safe-haven assets, like gold,” Adam Kobeissi, editor-in-chief of the Kobeissi Letter, told Cointelegraph. There’s a lot of uncertainty where BTC is heading, he continued, amid “more institutional involvement and leverage,” and there’s also been a “narrative shift from Bitcoin being viewed as ‘digital gold’ to a more speculative asset.”   One might think that its acceptance by traditional finance giants like BlackRock and Fidelity would make Bitcoin’s future more secure, which would boost the safe haven narrative — but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Venugopal:“Big companies piling into BTC does not mean it has become safer. In fact, it means BTC is becoming more like any other asset that institutional investors tend to invest in.”It will be more subject to the usual trading and draw-down strategies that institutional investors use, Venugopal continued. “If anything, BTC is now more correlated to risky assets in the market.” Bitcoin’s dual natureFew deny that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still subject to big price swings, further propelled recently by growing retail adoption of crypto, particularly from the memecoin craze, “one of the largest crypto-onboarding events in history,” Kobeissi noted. But perhaps that is the wrong thing to focus on.“Safe havens are always longer-term assets, which means that short-term volatility is not a factor in that characteristic,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, told Cointelegraph. The big question is whether BTC can hold its value longer-term against fiat currencies, and it’s been able to do that. “The numbers bear out its validity – on just about any four-year timeframe, BTC has outperformed gold and US equities,” said Acheson, adding:“BTC has always had two key narratives: it is a short-term risk asset, sensitive to liquidity expectations and overall sentiment. It is also a longer-term store of value. It can be both, as we are seeing.”Another possibility is that Bitcoin could be a safe haven against some happenings but not others. “I see Bitcoin as a hedge against issues in TradFi,” like the downturn that followed the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank two years ago, and “US Treasury risks,” Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered told Cointelegraph. But for some geopolitical events, Bitcoin might still trade as a risk asset, he said.Related: Is altseason dead? Bitcoin ETFs rewrite crypto investment playbookGold can serve as a hedge against geopolitical issues, like trade wars, while both Bitcoin and gold are hedges against inflation. “So both are useful hedges in a portfolio,” Kendrick added.Others, including Ark Investment’s Cathie Wood, agree that Bitcoin acted as a safe haven during the SVB and Signature bank runs in March 2023. When SVB collapsed on March 10, 2023, Bitcoin’s price was around $20,200, according to CoinGecko. It stood close to $27,400 a week later, roughly 35% higher.BTC price fell on March 10 before bouncing back a week later. Source: CoinGeckoSchatz doesn’t see Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. The events of 2022, when FTX and other crypto firms collapsed and the crypto winter began, “damages that thesis dramatically.” Maybe it’s a hedge against the US dollar and Treasury bonds? “That’s possible, but those scenarios are pretty dark to think about,” Schatz added.No time for over-reactionKobeissi agreed that short-term fluctuations in asset classes “often have minimal relevance over a long-term time period.” Many of Bitcoin’s fundamentals remain positive despite the current drawdown: a pro-crypto US government, the announcement of a US Bitcoin Reserve, and a surge in crypto adoption. The big question for market players is: “What is the next major catalyst for the run to continue?” Kobeissi told Cointelegraph. “This is why markets are pulling back and consolidating: it’s a search for the next major catalyst.”“Ever since macro investors started seeing BTC as a high-volatility, liquidity-sensitive risk asset, it has behaved like one,” added Acheson. Moreover, “it is almost always short-term traders that set the last price, and if they’re rotating out of risk assets, we will see BTC weakness.”Markets are struggling in general. There’s “the specter of renewed inflation and an economic slowdown weighing heavy on expectations” that are also affecting Bitcoin’s price. Acheson further noted:“Given this outlook, and BTC’s dual nature of risk asset and long-term safe haven, I’m surprised it’s not falling further.”  Venugopal, for his part, says Bitcoin hasn’t been a short-term hedge or safe haven since 2017. As for the long-term argument that Bitcoin is digital gold because of its 21 million BTC supply cap, that only works “if a large fraction of investors collectively expect Bitcoin to increase in value over time,” and “this may or may not be true.” Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

Several years back, many in the crypto community described Bitcoin as a “safe-haven” asset. Fewer are calling it that today.A safe-haven asset maintains or increases in value in times of economic stress. It can be a government bond, a currency like the US dollar, a commodity like gold, or even a blue-chip stock. A spreading global tariff war set off by the United States, as well as troubling economic reports, have sent equity markets tumbling, and Bitcoin too — which wasn’t supposed to happen with a “risk off” asset. Bitcoin has suffered compared with gold, too. “While gold prices are up +10%, Bitcoin is down -10% since January 1st,” noted the Kobeissi Letter on March 3. “Crypto is no longer viewed as a safe haven play.” (Bitcoin dropped even further last week.)But some market observers are saying that this wasn’t really unexpected.Bitcoin (white) and gold (yellow) price chart from Dec. 1 to March 13. Source: Bitcoin Counter FlowWas Bitcoin ever a safe haven?“I have never thought of BTC as a ‘safe haven,’” Paul Schatz, founder and president of Heritage Capital, a financial advisory firm, told Cointelegraph. “The magnitude of the moves in BTC are just too great to be put in the haven category although I do believe investors can and should have an allocation to the asset class in general.”“Bitcoin is still a speculative instrument for me, not a safe haven,” Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets (Germany), told Cointelegraph. “A safe haven investment like gold has an intrinsic value that will never be zero. Bitcoin can go down 80% in major corrections. I wouldn’t expect that from gold.”Crypto, including Bitcoin, “has never been a ‘safe haven play’ in my opinion,” Buvaneshwaran Venugopal, assistant professor in the department of finance at the University of Central Florida, told Cointelegraph.But things aren’t always as clear as they first appear, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Related: Bitcoin dominance hits new highs, alts fade: ResearchOne could argue that there are different kinds of safe havens: one for geopolitical events like wars, pandemics, and economic recessions, and another for strictly financial events like bank collapses or a weakening dollar, for instance. The perception of Bitcoin may be changing. Its inclusion in exchange-traded funds issued by major asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity in 2024 widened its ownership base, but it may also have changed its “narrative.”It is now more widely seen as a speculative or “risk on” asset like a technology stock.“Bitcoin, and crypto as a whole, have become highly correlated with risky assets and they often move inversely to safe-haven assets, like gold,” Adam Kobeissi, editor-in-chief of the Kobeissi Letter, told Cointelegraph. There’s a lot of uncertainty where BTC is heading, he continued, amid “more institutional involvement and leverage,” and there’s also been a “narrative shift from Bitcoin being viewed as ‘digital gold’ to a more speculative asset.”   One might think that its acceptance by traditional finance giants like BlackRock and Fidelity would make Bitcoin’s future more secure, which would boost the safe haven narrative — but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Venugopal:“Big companies piling into BTC does not mean it has become safer. In fact, it means BTC is becoming more like any other asset that institutional investors tend to invest in.”It will be more subject to the usual trading and draw-down strategies that institutional investors use, Venugopal continued. “If anything, BTC is now more correlated to risky assets in the market.” Bitcoin’s dual natureFew deny that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still subject to big price swings, further propelled recently by growing retail adoption of crypto, particularly from the memecoin craze, “one of the largest crypto-onboarding events in history,” Kobeissi noted. But perhaps that is the wrong thing to focus on.“Safe havens are always longer-term assets, which means that short-term volatility is not a factor in that characteristic,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, told Cointelegraph. The big question is whether BTC can hold its value longer-term against fiat currencies, and it’s been able to do that. “The numbers bear out its validity – on just about any four-year timeframe, BTC has outperformed gold and US equities,” said Acheson, adding:“BTC has always had two key narratives: it is a short-term risk asset, sensitive to liquidity expectations and overall sentiment. It is also a longer-term store of value. It can be both, as we are seeing.”Another possibility is that Bitcoin could be a safe haven against some happenings but not others. “I see Bitcoin as a hedge against issues in TradFi,” like the downturn that followed the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank two years ago, and “US Treasury risks,” Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered told Cointelegraph. But for some geopolitical events, Bitcoin might still trade as a risk asset, he said.Related: Is altseason dead? Bitcoin ETFs rewrite crypto investment playbookGold can serve as a hedge against geopolitical issues, like trade wars, while both Bitcoin and gold are hedges against inflation. “So both are useful hedges in a portfolio,” Kendrick added.Others, including Ark Investment’s Cathie Wood, agree that Bitcoin acted as a safe haven during the SVB and Signature bank runs in March 2023. When SVB collapsed on March 10, 2023, Bitcoin’s price was around $20,200, according to CoinGecko. It stood close to $27,400 a week later, roughly 35% higher.BTC price fell on March 10 before bouncing back a week later. Source: CoinGeckoSchatz doesn’t see Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. The events of 2022, when FTX and other crypto firms collapsed and the crypto winter began, “damages that thesis dramatically.” Maybe it’s a hedge against the US dollar and Treasury bonds? “That’s possible, but those scenarios are pretty dark to think about,” Schatz added.No time for over-reactionKobeissi agreed that short-term fluctuations in asset classes “often have minimal relevance over a long-term time period.” Many of Bitcoin’s fundamentals remain positive despite the current drawdown: a pro-crypto US government, the announcement of a US Bitcoin Reserve, and a surge in crypto adoption. The big question for market players is: “What is the next major catalyst for the run to continue?” Kobeissi told Cointelegraph. “This is why markets are pulling back and consolidating: it’s a search for the next major catalyst.”“Ever since macro investors started seeing BTC as a high-volatility, liquidity-sensitive risk asset, it has behaved like one,” added Acheson. Moreover, “it is almost always short-term traders that set the last price, and if they’re rotating out of risk assets, we will see BTC weakness.”Markets are struggling in general. There’s “the specter of renewed inflation and an economic slowdown weighing heavy on expectations” that are also affecting Bitcoin’s price. Acheson further noted:“Given this outlook, and BTC’s dual nature of risk asset and long-term safe haven, I’m surprised it’s not falling further.”  Venugopal, for his part, says Bitcoin hasn’t been a short-term hedge or safe haven since 2017. As for the long-term argument that Bitcoin is digital gold because of its 21 million BTC supply cap, that only works “if a large fraction of investors collectively expect Bitcoin to increase in value over time,” and “this may or may not be true.” Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

Several years back, many in the crypto community described Bitcoin as a “safe-haven” asset. Fewer are calling it that today.A safe-haven asset maintains or increases in value in times of economic stress. It can be a government bond, a currency like the US dollar, a commodity like gold, or even a blue-chip stock. A spreading global tariff war set off by the United States, as well as troubling economic reports, have sent equity markets tumbling, and Bitcoin too — which wasn’t supposed to happen with a “risk off” asset. Bitcoin has suffered compared with gold, too. “While gold prices are up +10%, Bitcoin is down -10% since January 1st,” noted the Kobeissi Letter on March 3. “Crypto is no longer viewed as a safe haven play.” (Bitcoin dropped even further last week.)But some market observers are saying that this wasn’t really unexpected.Bitcoin (white) and gold (yellow) price chart from Dec. 1 to March 13. Source: Bitcoin Counter FlowWas Bitcoin ever a safe haven?“I have never thought of BTC as a ‘safe haven,’” Paul Schatz, founder and president of Heritage Capital, a financial advisory firm, told Cointelegraph. “The magnitude of the moves in BTC are just too great to be put in the haven category although I do believe investors can and should have an allocation to the asset class in general.”“Bitcoin is still a speculative instrument for me, not a safe haven,” Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets (Germany), told Cointelegraph. “A safe haven investment like gold has an intrinsic value that will never be zero. Bitcoin can go down 80% in major corrections. I wouldn’t expect that from gold.”Crypto, including Bitcoin, “has never been a ‘safe haven play’ in my opinion,” Buvaneshwaran Venugopal, assistant professor in the department of finance at the University of Central Florida, told Cointelegraph.But things aren’t always as clear as they first appear, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Related: Bitcoin dominance hits new highs, alts fade: ResearchOne could argue that there are different kinds of safe havens: one for geopolitical events like wars, pandemics, and economic recessions, and another for strictly financial events like bank collapses or a weakening dollar, for instance. The perception of Bitcoin may be changing. Its inclusion in exchange-traded funds issued by major asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity in 2024 widened its ownership base, but it may also have changed its “narrative.”It is now more widely seen as a speculative or “risk on” asset like a technology stock.“Bitcoin, and crypto as a whole, have become highly correlated with risky assets and they often move inversely to safe-haven assets, like gold,” Adam Kobeissi, editor-in-chief of the Kobeissi Letter, told Cointelegraph. There’s a lot of uncertainty where BTC is heading, he continued, amid “more institutional involvement and leverage,” and there’s also been a “narrative shift from Bitcoin being viewed as ‘digital gold’ to a more speculative asset.”   One might think that its acceptance by traditional finance giants like BlackRock and Fidelity would make Bitcoin’s future more secure, which would boost the safe haven narrative — but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Venugopal:“Big companies piling into BTC does not mean it has become safer. In fact, it means BTC is becoming more like any other asset that institutional investors tend to invest in.”It will be more subject to the usual trading and draw-down strategies that institutional investors use, Venugopal continued. “If anything, BTC is now more correlated to risky assets in the market.” Bitcoin’s dual natureFew deny that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still subject to big price swings, further propelled recently by growing retail adoption of crypto, particularly from the memecoin craze, “one of the largest crypto-onboarding events in history,” Kobeissi noted. But perhaps that is the wrong thing to focus on.“Safe havens are always longer-term assets, which means that short-term volatility is not a factor in that characteristic,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, told Cointelegraph. The big question is whether BTC can hold its value longer-term against fiat currencies, and it’s been able to do that. “The numbers bear out its validity – on just about any four-year timeframe, BTC has outperformed gold and US equities,” said Acheson, adding:“BTC has always had two key narratives: it is a short-term risk asset, sensitive to liquidity expectations and overall sentiment. It is also a longer-term store of value. It can be both, as we are seeing.”Another possibility is that Bitcoin could be a safe haven against some happenings but not others. “I see Bitcoin as a hedge against issues in TradFi,” like the downturn that followed the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank two years ago, and “US Treasury risks,” Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered told Cointelegraph. But for some geopolitical events, Bitcoin might still trade as a risk asset, he said.Related: Is altseason dead? Bitcoin ETFs rewrite crypto investment playbookGold can serve as a hedge against geopolitical issues, like trade wars, while both Bitcoin and gold are hedges against inflation. “So both are useful hedges in a portfolio,” Kendrick added.Others, including Ark Investment’s Cathie Wood, agree that Bitcoin acted as a safe haven during the SVB and Signature bank runs in March 2023. When SVB collapsed on March 10, 2023, Bitcoin’s price was around $20,200, according to CoinGecko. It stood close to $27,400 a week later, roughly 35% higher.BTC price fell on March 10 before bouncing back a week later. Source: CoinGeckoSchatz doesn’t see Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. The events of 2022, when FTX and other crypto firms collapsed and the crypto winter began, “damages that thesis dramatically.” Maybe it’s a hedge against the US dollar and Treasury bonds? “That’s possible, but those scenarios are pretty dark to think about,” Schatz added.No time for over-reactionKobeissi agreed that short-term fluctuations in asset classes “often have minimal relevance over a long-term time period.” Many of Bitcoin’s fundamentals remain positive despite the current drawdown: a pro-crypto US government, the announcement of a US Bitcoin Reserve, and a surge in crypto adoption. The big question for market players is: “What is the next major catalyst for the run to continue?” Kobeissi told Cointelegraph. “This is why markets are pulling back and consolidating: it’s a search for the next major catalyst.”“Ever since macro investors started seeing BTC as a high-volatility, liquidity-sensitive risk asset, it has behaved like one,” added Acheson. Moreover, “it is almost always short-term traders that set the last price, and if they’re rotating out of risk assets, we will see BTC weakness.”Markets are struggling in general. There’s “the specter of renewed inflation and an economic slowdown weighing heavy on expectations” that are also affecting Bitcoin’s price. Acheson further noted:“Given this outlook, and BTC’s dual nature of risk asset and long-term safe haven, I’m surprised it’s not falling further.”  Venugopal, for his part, says Bitcoin hasn’t been a short-term hedge or safe haven since 2017. As for the long-term argument that Bitcoin is digital gold because of its 21 million BTC supply cap, that only works “if a large fraction of investors collectively expect Bitcoin to increase in value over time,” and “this may or may not be true.” Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

Several years back, many in the crypto community described Bitcoin as a “safe-haven” asset. Fewer are calling it that today.A safe-haven asset maintains or increases in value in times of economic stress. It can be a government bond, a currency like the US dollar, a commodity like gold, or even a blue-chip stock. A spreading global tariff war set off by the United States, as well as troubling economic reports, have sent equity markets tumbling, and Bitcoin too — which wasn’t supposed to happen with a “risk off” asset. Bitcoin has suffered compared with gold, too. “While gold prices are up +10%, Bitcoin is down -10% since January 1st,” noted the Kobeissi Letter on March 3. “Crypto is no longer viewed as a safe haven play.” (Bitcoin dropped even further last week.)But some market observers are saying that this wasn’t really unexpected.Bitcoin (white) and gold (yellow) price chart from Dec. 1 to March 13. Source: Bitcoin Counter FlowWas Bitcoin ever a safe haven?“I have never thought of BTC as a ‘safe haven,’” Paul Schatz, founder and president of Heritage Capital, a financial advisory firm, told Cointelegraph. “The magnitude of the moves in BTC are just too great to be put in the haven category although I do believe investors can and should have an allocation to the asset class in general.”“Bitcoin is still a speculative instrument for me, not a safe haven,” Jochen Stanzl, Chief Market Analyst at CMC Markets (Germany), told Cointelegraph. “A safe haven investment like gold has an intrinsic value that will never be zero. Bitcoin can go down 80% in major corrections. I wouldn’t expect that from gold.”Crypto, including Bitcoin, “has never been a ‘safe haven play’ in my opinion,” Buvaneshwaran Venugopal, assistant professor in the department of finance at the University of Central Florida, told Cointelegraph.But things aren’t always as clear as they first appear, especially when it comes to cryptocurrencies. Related: Bitcoin dominance hits new highs, alts fade: ResearchOne could argue that there are different kinds of safe havens: one for geopolitical events like wars, pandemics, and economic recessions, and another for strictly financial events like bank collapses or a weakening dollar, for instance. The perception of Bitcoin may be changing. Its inclusion in exchange-traded funds issued by major asset managers like BlackRock and Fidelity in 2024 widened its ownership base, but it may also have changed its “narrative.”It is now more widely seen as a speculative or “risk on” asset like a technology stock.“Bitcoin, and crypto as a whole, have become highly correlated with risky assets and they often move inversely to safe-haven assets, like gold,” Adam Kobeissi, editor-in-chief of the Kobeissi Letter, told Cointelegraph. There’s a lot of uncertainty where BTC is heading, he continued, amid “more institutional involvement and leverage,” and there’s also been a “narrative shift from Bitcoin being viewed as ‘digital gold’ to a more speculative asset.”   One might think that its acceptance by traditional finance giants like BlackRock and Fidelity would make Bitcoin’s future more secure, which would boost the safe haven narrative — but that’s not necessarily the case, according to Venugopal:“Big companies piling into BTC does not mean it has become safer. In fact, it means BTC is becoming more like any other asset that institutional investors tend to invest in.”It will be more subject to the usual trading and draw-down strategies that institutional investors use, Venugopal continued. “If anything, BTC is now more correlated to risky assets in the market.” Bitcoin’s dual natureFew deny that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are still subject to big price swings, further propelled recently by growing retail adoption of crypto, particularly from the memecoin craze, “one of the largest crypto-onboarding events in history,” Kobeissi noted. But perhaps that is the wrong thing to focus on.“Safe havens are always longer-term assets, which means that short-term volatility is not a factor in that characteristic,” Noelle Acheson, author of the Crypto is Macro Now newsletter, told Cointelegraph. The big question is whether BTC can hold its value longer-term against fiat currencies, and it’s been able to do that. “The numbers bear out its validity – on just about any four-year timeframe, BTC has outperformed gold and US equities,” said Acheson, adding:“BTC has always had two key narratives: it is a short-term risk asset, sensitive to liquidity expectations and overall sentiment. It is also a longer-term store of value. It can be both, as we are seeing.”Another possibility is that Bitcoin could be a safe haven against some happenings but not others. “I see Bitcoin as a hedge against issues in TradFi,” like the downturn that followed the collapse of the Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank two years ago, and “US Treasury risks,” Geoff Kendrick, global head of digital assets research at Standard Chartered told Cointelegraph. But for some geopolitical events, Bitcoin might still trade as a risk asset, he said.Related: Is altseason dead? Bitcoin ETFs rewrite crypto investment playbookGold can serve as a hedge against geopolitical issues, like trade wars, while both Bitcoin and gold are hedges against inflation. “So both are useful hedges in a portfolio,” Kendrick added.Others, including Ark Investment’s Cathie Wood, agree that Bitcoin acted as a safe haven during the SVB and Signature bank runs in March 2023. When SVB collapsed on March 10, 2023, Bitcoin’s price was around $20,200, according to CoinGecko. It stood close to $27,400 a week later, roughly 35% higher.BTC price fell on March 10 before bouncing back a week later. Source: CoinGeckoSchatz doesn’t see Bitcoin as a hedge against inflation. The events of 2022, when FTX and other crypto firms collapsed and the crypto winter began, “damages that thesis dramatically.” Maybe it’s a hedge against the US dollar and Treasury bonds? “That’s possible, but those scenarios are pretty dark to think about,” Schatz added.No time for over-reactionKobeissi agreed that short-term fluctuations in asset classes “often have minimal relevance over a long-term time period.” Many of Bitcoin’s fundamentals remain positive despite the current drawdown: a pro-crypto US government, the announcement of a US Bitcoin Reserve, and a surge in crypto adoption. The big question for market players is: “What is the next major catalyst for the run to continue?” Kobeissi told Cointelegraph. “This is why markets are pulling back and consolidating: it’s a search for the next major catalyst.”“Ever since macro investors started seeing BTC as a high-volatility, liquidity-sensitive risk asset, it has behaved like one,” added Acheson. Moreover, “it is almost always short-term traders that set the last price, and if they’re rotating out of risk assets, we will see BTC weakness.”Markets are struggling in general. There’s “the specter of renewed inflation and an economic slowdown weighing heavy on expectations” that are also affecting Bitcoin’s price. Acheson further noted:“Given this outlook, and BTC’s dual nature of risk asset and long-term safe haven, I’m surprised it’s not falling further.”  Venugopal, for his part, says Bitcoin hasn’t been a short-term hedge or safe haven since 2017. As for the long-term argument that Bitcoin is digital gold because of its 21 million BTC supply cap, that only works “if a large fraction of investors collectively expect Bitcoin to increase in value over time,” and “this may or may not be true.” Magazine: Crypto fans are obsessed with longevity and biohacking: Here’s why

While the crypto market contracted over the past two weeks, the stablecoin sector has ballooned by $4.23 billion since March 1, defying the broader trend. Digital Dollars Dominate With Over 8% of Crypto’s Trillion-Dollar Pie The stablecoin ecosystem—fiat-pegged digital tokens—now sits at $228.553 billion after a $4.23 billion boost in just 14 days. Leading the […]

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With the implementation of EIP-4337, I'm left wondering about the future role of ETH in the ecosystem. If gas fees can be paid with tokens like USDT, does ETH still have a purpose being a store of value or investment asset? Will its demand decrease as platforms and users find alternative ways to handle transaction…
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Key Takeaways: A California man sentenced to 87 months in prison for Bitcoin-based laundering of MDMA sales earnings. The case fit Operation Crypto Runner, a government assault on crypto-based money laundering. Authorities note a rising pattern of drug trafficking groups laundering illegal money using cryptocurrencies. A California man condemned by federal authorities to more than…
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The cryptocurrency market has witnessed diverging performances between its two largest assets, Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH). While Bitcoin has shown signs of recovery, gaining 3.8% over the past two weeks and reclaiming the $85,000 price level, Ethereum has struggled to keep up. ETH remains below the $2,000 mark, a level it fell below last week, currently trading just above $1,900. The disparity in performance between Bitcoin and Ethereum has drawn attention from analysts, particularly regarding Ethereum’s declining strength against Bitcoin in the derivatives market. Related Reading: Ethereum Price Consolidates and Eyes Recovery—Is a Bounce Incoming? Ethereum’s Decline Against Bitcoin: Key Market Trends CryptoQuant analyst SunflowrQuant recently analyzed the ETH/BTC market trends, noting that Ethereum has weakened against Bitcoin over the past two years, reflecting a drop in investor confidence and reduced speculative interest in ETH derivatives. According to SunflowrQuant, during the 2021-2022 period, Ethereum outperformed Bitcoin, signaling strong market interest and increasing activity in Ethereum-based derivatives at the time. However, since then, the ETH/BTC ratio and open interest have both declined, suggesting that Ethereum has been losing ground against Bitcoin in terms of market dominance. By March 2025, the open interest ratio of ETH futures had fallen to 0.15, while the ETH/BTC price ratio dropped to 0.02. This indicates that the bearish sentiment around Ethereum continues to dominate the market, as traders and investors shift their focus toward Bitcoin. The declining open interest in Ethereum perpetual futures contracts further reinforces the idea that traders are showing less speculative interest in ETH compared to BTC. What This Means for ETH’s Future Despite ETH’s underperformance, SunflowrQuant suggests that its current weakness may also reflect broader market fear and uncertainty. The analyst points out that crypto markets are often driven by emotions, and when sentiment reaches an extreme low, a rapid recovery could follow. Related Reading: This Ethereum Monthly RSI Chart Just Crashed To New Lows To Break 2022 Records, What Happened Last Time? Such low-liquidity conditions may lead to unexpected price movements, creating opportunities for ETH to regain strength in the ETH/BTC ratio. Historically, market downturns have been followed by periods of strong recovery, and Ethereum’s fundamentals remain intact. The analyst wrote: Emotional fluctuations and market fear could lead investors to act more cautiously and strategically. We may be at the foundations of new beginnings for Ethereum; just like in previous cycles, after tough times, a strong rebound may occur, reaching new highs. If investor confidence returns, ETH could potentially reverse its trend, similar to how it performed against Bitcoin in 2021-2022. However, this will likely depend on broader market dynamics, including institutional adoption, ETH’s network upgrades, and Bitcoin’s price stability. SunflowrQuant concluded: Looking at the price fluctuations in Ethereum, now could be the perfect time to be part of this transformative process. We are at the bottom of potential new beginnings and opportunities for ETH. Featured image created with DALL=E, Chart from TradingView