Coinbase and mortgage lender Better Home & Finance have announced a new product that lets prospective buyers use Bitcoin or USDC as collateral on a Fannie Mae-backed mortgage, without ever having to liquidate their holdings. It is, by most measures, the clearest sign yet that digital assets are finding their way into the mainstream and will be used as the machinery of American homeownership.

 

How It Will Work

Borrowers transfer their digital assets from Coinbase into a custody wallet held by Better, retaining legal ownership of the crypto throughout the life of the loan. The collateral sits there as a pledge, not a payment. For holders of USDC, Circle's dollar-pegged stablecoin, the arrangement even lets them keep earning yield on their holdings while those same assets secure the mortgage.

 

The rate premium is real, though. Borrowers should expect to pay 0.5 to 1.5 percentage points above a standard 30-year fixed loan, depending on their overall profile. Whether that spread feels worth it depends largely on how much a borrower values not triggering a taxable event by selling appreciated crypto positions. For long-term Bitcoin holders sitting on significant gains, the math can work out in their favor.

 

One of the more notable design choices here is the absence of margin calls. In most crypto lending products, a sharp price drop can trigger forced liquidation of collateral. This product is built differently. If Bitcoin falls 40% in a month, the terms of the mortgage do not change and no additional collateral is required. Liquidation risk only enters the picture after a 60-day payment delinquency, putting the structure firmly in line with how conventional mortgages work rather than how crypto lending typically operates. This matters a great deal for borrowers who have been burned by or are skeptical of DeFi-style collateral arrangements.

 

How Did We Get Here?

In June 2025, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte issued a directive ordering Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to prepare proposals for counting cryptocurrency as an asset in mortgage risk assessments, without requiring borrowers to first convert those holdings into dollars. The directive was framed explicitly around President Trump's stated goal of making the U.S. the crypto capital of the world. Pulte's letter specified that only crypto held on U.S.-regulated centralized exchanges would qualify, and he called for risk mitigants including valuation adjustments to account for volatility.

 

Until now, Fannie and Freddie's guidelines required that any cryptocurrency a borrower wanted to use for a down payment, closing costs, or reserves had to be liquidated into U.S. dollars first. The Coinbase-Better announcement marks the first time that framework has been operationalized into an actual product backed by Fannie Mae. Whether lenders across the broader market follow suit remains to be seen, as industry experts have cautioned that adoption will be gradual. Individual lenders may impose their own overlays, and aggregators who purchase loans will need to get comfortable with the structure before it becomes truly mainstream.

 

Coinbase and Better are not alone in seeing opportunity here. Newrez, one of the largest mortgage servicers in the country with roughly $778 billion in assets under management, announced late last year that it was assessing Bitcoin and Ethereum for mortgage qualification purposes. Bob Johnson, head of originations at Newrez, described the FHFA directive as a meaningful signal from Washington that the capital markets infrastructure underpinning a significant share of U.S. mortgage origination is open for change.

 

Bitcoin ETFs have surpassed $100 billion in assets under management since receiving SEC approval in early 2024, and a growing cohort of American households hold meaningful digital asset positions. For those buyers, particularly younger, crypto-native professionals who have built wealth in digital rather than traditional asset classes, the old requirement to sell before buying a home was a genuine friction point. This product is a direct answer to that segment.

 

Questions Sill Remain

Not everyone is convinced the move is without risk to the broader housing system. A group of Democratic senators wrote to Director Pulte last July raising concerns about attaching a notoriously volatile asset class to one of the most systemically important markets in the U.S. economy. The letter questioned the transparency of the decision-making process and asked for details on how downside risks would be managed. Those concerns have not disappeared just because a product has launched.

 

Experts in the mortgage industry have echoed a degree of caution. Some analysts expect lenders to apply heavy discounts to crypto valuations for qualifying purposes, potentially treating holdings at 10% or less of market value, and to require that assets be seasoned on regulated exchanges for a defined period. The operational side of verifying, valuing, and monitoring digital assets in a mortgage context is still being developed, and few lenders have the infrastructure in place today to do it at scale.

 

Whatever the short-term practical limitations, the symbolic weight of Fannie Mae's involvement should not be understated. The government-sponsored enterprise, which has been under federal conservatorship since 2008 and underpins a substantial portion of American mortgage finance, is now part of a product that treats Bitcoin and USDC as legitimate collateral.

 

The irony here is hard to ignore. The 2008 financial collapse, driven largely by reckless mortgage-backed securities dealings, was the very event that inspired Satoshi Nakamoto to write the Bitcoin whitepaper. That invention, born as a rejection of and answer to the broken banking system, will now be used to back the same financial instrument that helped trigger the crisis. Life, as they say, comes full circle.

 

Bitcoin climbed back toward the $72,000 mark Wednesday as the derivatives market showed telltale signs of growing leverage, putting traders on alert for sharp moves in either direction. The world's largest cryptocurrency rose roughly 1.2% after midnight UTC, mirroring gains across U.S. equity futures, with the Nasdaq 100 up around 1% over the same window. BTC was last seen trading near $71,300, well within the choppy $69,000 to $76,000 band that has defined the market for much of March.

 

The session's gains carried a cautionary undertone. Futures open interest in bitcoin has climbed to a one-week high, driven in large part by short positioning rather than fresh bullish conviction. Traders who have seen BTC get turned away from $72,000 repeatedly appear to be leaning into those rejections rather than chasing a breakout. Funding rates and cumulative volume delta have stayed flat to muted, two readings that analysts typically cite when the OI build is defensive in nature rather than a signal of aggressive dip-buying.

 

$14 Billion Options Expiry Looms Large

The backdrop sharpens considerably when you factor in what is sitting on the calendar for Friday. Deribit, the dominant crypto options venue, is set to settle roughly $14.16 billion in bitcoin contracts at 08:00 UTC on March 27, a figure that accounts for nearly 40% of all open interest on the exchange. The quarterly event is the single largest derivatives settlement of Q1 2026, and it arrives with a specific price level commanding outsized attention.

 

That level is $75,000. According to Deribit, max pain for this Friday's expiry sits right there, meaning it is the price at which the highest number of contracts expire worthless and option writers, typically large funds and institutional players, would owe the least. Deribit Chief Commercial Officer Jean-David Pequignot described the dynamic as a gravitational pull, noting that delta-hedging activity by market makers historically nudges spot prices toward that pain threshold in the hours leading up to settlement.

 

The gap between where bitcoin is trading now and $75,000 is not trivial, a roughly 5% move from current levels. Whether max pain theory ultimately delivers on that gravitational pull remains a matter of debate even inside the industry. But with nearly 40% of Deribit's open interest scheduled to roll off in one session, the mechanical hedging flows alone are worth watching closely.

 

Altcoins Showing Stronger Positioning

While Bitcoin grinds sideways with mounting leverage, a more constructive picture is forming in parts of the altcoin market. Ethereum open interest has climbed to multi-month highs, and the positioning profile looks more directionally bullish than what is currently visible in BTC futures. DeFi-adjacent tokens and AI infrastructure projects are outperforming Bitcoin on a short-term basis, with the CoinDesk Computing Select Index, which tracks TAO, FET, and Chainlink, rising about 1.9% Wednesday to lead all major benchmarks.

 

Chainlink alone accounts for roughly 62% of that index and added 1.5% on the day, while TAO and FET posted gains of 4.9% and 2.9% respectively. The broader CoinDesk 20 benchmark gained around 0.9%, with the altcoin-heavy CoinDesk 80 generally outpacing the bitcoin-heavy CoinDesk 5. The pattern suggests that risk appetite has not evaporated, it is simply migrating toward names where there is clearer near-term narrative momentum.

 

A Market Trapped Between Catalysts

Zoom out and the picture gets harder to trade comfortably. Bitcoin is on pace to close March in the red, which would extend a losing or flat monthly streak to six consecutive months, the longest such run since the 2022 bear market. The final week of the month carries several potential catalysts, including the U.S. Personal Consumption Expenditures data on March 28, which could shift rate-cut expectations and send ripples through risk assets.

 

For now, the market appears to be threading a needle between a derivatives setup that could pull prices higher ahead of Friday and a macro backdrop that has not yet given bulls a clean reason to push through resistance with conviction. Rising open interest without corresponding spot demand and funding is historically the kind of configuration that resolves violently, though the direction is rarely obvious until it starts moving. With $14 billion in contracts settling in roughly 48 hours, the next few sessions aren't looking to be very quiet.

 

Bitcoin surged to $71,200 on Monday as investors are optimisitc on de-escalation of the Iran conflict.

 

The move started when President Trump posted on Truth Social that he had instructed the Department of War to postpone planned strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days, following what he called "very good and productive" talks with Tehran. Crypto jumped roughly 5% on the news. Ether climbed above $2,100, BNB pushed through $650, and XRP traded above $1.40. Oil plunged around 11%, S&P 500 futures gained nearly 4%, and global markets added an estimated $2.5 trillion in value within about 20 minutes.

 

Then Iran's state-affiliated Fars News Agency cited an unidentified source denying any talks had taken place. Gains started reversing almost immediately. Bitcoin is now up about 2.5% on the day and down roughly 5% on the week, sitting just under $71,000 after hitting an intraday high of $71,224 per CoinGecko data.

 

The session is the latest chapter in a conflict that has rattled crypto markets since Operation Epic Fury launched on February 28, when the U.S. and Israel struck targets across Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Iran's subsequent blockade of the Strait of Hormuz, a critical chokepoint for global oil flows, has kept energy prices elevated and risk appetite suppressed. The Federal Reserve, meeting earlier this month against that backdrop, revised its 2026 inflation forecast upward to 2.7% and signaled a higher-for-longer stance on rates.

 

Despite the chaos, Bitcoin has held above its pre-war price level, a fact that has not gone unnoticed. When the strikes began on a Saturday morning and every traditional market was closed, crypto was the only liquid venue available for investors to respond. That 24/7 trading reality, once seen as a volatility risk, has started looking more like a feature.

 

The five-day pause, if it holds at all, does not end the conflict. Iran continues to strike targets across the Gulf, and Israel would need to sign on to any broader ceasefire. Israel has publicly said it has thousands of remaining targets and requires at least three more weeks of operations. Prediction markets currently favor a ceasefire by late April at the earliest.

 

Bitcoin's 30-day implied volatility index has bounced to 60%, and $791 million in total leveraged positions have been wiped across crypto markets this session according to CoinGlass, with $425 million of those being longs. The clock on Trump's five-day window is ticking, and so is the market's patience.

 

A Bitcoin wallet holding 2,100 BTC (worth over $147 million) became active after more than 13 years of dormancy.

 

The wallet, identified by the address 1NB3ZXx…BQB6ZX, moved 0.00079 BTC (approximately $55.71) at 11:27 a.m. UTC on Friday, a tiny fraction of its total holdings. According to data from Bitinfocharts, the wallet received the 2,100 BTC in a single transaction on July 4, 2012.

 

At the time, Bitcoin was trading at $6.59, valuing the holdings at about $13,839. The wallet’s value has since increased by more than 10,000x, rising to over $147 million today.

 

Image credit: Bitinfocharts

 

This move did not go unnoticed in the crypto community, with many applauding the whale’s patience and others calling it one of the most effective trading strategies.

 

“13.7 years of silence… just to move $56. That’s not a sell signal — it’s a reminder of what conviction looks like in Bitcoin. From $6 to $75,000, the biggest returns didn’t come from trading… they came from time,” said Andy Wang, CEO of crypto platform HashWhale.

 

This isn’t the first Bitcoin whale wallet to be reactivated this year. In January, a 13-year-old dormant wallet moved 909 BTC, worth about $85 million, to a new address.

 

About a week ago, another Bitcoin whale that had been dormant for roughly two years transferred 343 BTC, worth approximately $23.85 million, between Binance and Cobo.

 

 

Bitcoin’s Price Action This Month

Despite experiencing significant volatility this month, Bitcoin has posted a net positive month-to-date gain.

 

Starting the month at around $67,000, Bitcoin dipped to $65,303 before surging to $74,000 days later, and was trading at $69,927 as of March 10. It also reached a peak of $75,988, with some analysts speculating about a potential breakout above $80,000.

 

According to data from CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin is currently trading at around $69,807, with a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $39 billion and a market capitalization of nearly $1.396 trillion.

 

 

Cryptocurrency lending firm Blockfills, along with its operating company Reliz Ltd. and two affiliated entities, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Delaware court.

 

According to the team, the filing was voluntary and in the best interests of the company and its customers. The decision, the firm said, was made after extensive discussions with investors, clients, creditors, and other stakeholders.

 

“This filing will allow the firm to implement an orderly restructuring while maintaining transparency and oversight through the court-supervised process,” Blockfills said.

 

 

 

"The bankruptcy filing was the best course of action after evaluating all available strategic and financial alternatives,” Blockfills said. The company now plans to restructure and stabilize the business while pursuing additional liquidity and recovery options.

 

In the filing, Blockfills estimated its assets at between $50 million and $100 million and its liabilities at between $100 million and $500 million, leaving a potential deficit of up to $450 million.

 

 

Blockfills Many Struggles 

The past few months have been tough for Blockfills. In February, the firm suspended customer withdrawals and deposits. According to the team, the move was intended to protect both the firm and its clients, given the impact of challenging market conditions on its liquidity.

 

Blockfills also suffered huge financial losses, reportedly losing about $75 million from its lending and other crypto services. The firm is facing a lawsuit from Dominion Capital, which alleges that it mishandled and commingled customers’ funds, prompting a U.S. federal judge to freeze approximately 70.6 bitcoins linked to the company.

 

 

Past Bankruptcy Cases

Blockfill isn’t the first crypto lending firm to file for bankruptcy. In 2022, Celsius Network, one of the largest crypto lenders, froze withdrawals in mid-year and later filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July amid harsh market conditions. 

 

Court filings revealed the company had about $4.3 billion in assets and $5.5 billion in liabilities, leaving a deficit of roughly $1.2 billion. Celsius eventually shut down in February 2024.

 

Several other crypto lending companies also filed for bankruptcy in 2022, including BlockFi, Voyager Digital, Three Arrows Capital, and Hodlnaut. Some of these companies attempted to restructure and resume operations, but none succeeded, with all eventually shutting down.

 

 

Former U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson has called Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme, claiming it has far less value than gold and even Pokémon cards, which he said are more widely recognized.

 

 

 

In a recent Daily Mail article, former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called Bitcoin a Ponzi scheme with no real value, saying it relied on a “supply of new and credulous investors.” He also shared the story of a friend who lost about $26,000 in a crypto investment scam.

 

Johnson shared a story about a retired man from a village in Oxfordshire who initially handed over £500 (about $661) to someone who promised to double the money through Bitcoin investments. Johnson said the man went on to invest £20,000 (around $26,450) over three and a half years but ultimately received nothing in return.

 

The former prime minister also questioned the credibility of Bitcoin, calling it “a string of numbers stored in a series of computers.” “Who can we turn to if someone decrypts the crypto?” Johnson asked. “There’s no one except Nakamoto, who might be nothing more than Pikachu or Charmander.”

 

Since the pseudonymous creator of Bitcoin, Satoshi Nakamoto, lacked institutional backing, Johnson questioned Bitcoin’s credibility as a tradable asset. According to Johnson, Pokémon cards, which fascinated children thirty years ago and still do today, are a more tradable asset than Bitcoin.

 

“These curious little Japanese cartoon beasties hold the same fascination for five-year-olds as they did 30 years ago. The kids are obsessed with them. They boast and squabble about them,” Boris said.

 

“Even if you remain pretty impervious to the charm of Pikachu, you can just about see why a decades-old Pikachu card is still a tradeable asset,” he added.

 

 

The Crypto Community Responded

While many social media users have ridiculed Boris’ understanding of cryptocurrency, some have offered clearer explanations of why Bitcoin cannot be called a Ponzi scheme.

 

Michael Saylor, founder of MicroStrategy, also sought to clarify the issue.

 

“Bitcoin is not a Ponzi scheme. A Ponzi requires a central operator promising returns and paying early investors with funds from later ones,” Saylor wrote on X.

 

“Bitcoin has no issuer, no promoter, and no guaranteed return—just an open, decentralized monetary network driven by code and market demand,” he added.

 

 

 

Crypto brokerage company Blockchain.com is expanding into Ghana after recording strong growth one year after entering the Nigerian market.

 

In a recent announcement, Owenize Odia, General Manager for Africa at Blockchain.com, said the company plans to expand into Ghana. 

 

According to the announcement, the move was driven by the company’s strong growth in Nigeria. Just one year after entering the market in early 2025, Blockchain.com reported more than a 700% increase in brokerage transaction volume, with Bitcoin, Tether, and Tron emerging as the most traded crypto assets in the region. 

 

The decision to fully launch into Ghana’s crypto market was also driven by the strong momentum in the country. According to Owenize, Blockchain.com recorded a 140% increase in the number of active users in Ghana and a 90% increase in transaction volumes even before the company officially entered the market. 

 

Crypto Adoption in Sub-Saharan Africa

Sub-Saharan Africa is now the third-fastest-growing region globally for crypto adoption, according to a report by Chainalysis, after Asia-Pacific and Latin America. 

 

According to the report, about $205 billion was received by Sub-Saharan African countries between July 2024 and June 2025 in Sub-Saharan Africa, a 52% increase year over year, with Nigeria leading adoption in the region and accounting for about $92 billion of the total volume received within that period. Cross-border transfers, remittances, and stablecoin transactions accounted for most of these transactions.

 

Image credit: Chainalysis

 

About Blockchain.com

Founded in 2011 by Peter Smith, Benjamin Reeves, and Nicolas Cary, Blockchain.com is one of the oldest cryptocurrency platforms in the world. It offers a suite of crypto services, including non-custodial crypto storage, cryptocurrency trading, blockchain exploration, and the trading of tokenized U.S. stocks and exchange traded funds (ETFs).

 

Since its founding, Blockchain.com has achieved several notable milestones, including:

• Creating nearly 94 million wallets for users.
• Serving customers in more than 100 countries.
• Processing over $1 trillion in total transaction volume, including more than $100 million in a single day. 

 

 

An X user with the username "Sillytuna" has reportedly lost $24 million in Aave Ethereum USDC (aEthUSDC) in an attack that involved a combination of violence, sexual assault, weapons, and threats to life.

 

 

"Bruised, held off while I could, but can't do that much with axes over your hands and feet," Sillytuna wrote. The user further stated that he was, at this point, done with crypto. In his words, "And now... definitely out of crypto ****ers."

 

While the matter has already been reported to law enforcement, no official statement has been issued by the authorities. However, the X user has announced a 10% bounty for whoever helps recover the stolen funds.

 

 

 

How the Crypto Community Reacted

Shortly after the news went viral, the crypto community reacted with mixed feelings, with many commiserating with the user over their loss. Some also raised awareness about the deplorable state of security in the United Kingdom. Apparently, the victim is a UK resident.

 

 

Amid the sympathy from the global crypto community, some, however, doubted the authenticity of the victim's story.

 

According to YokaiCapital, an X user, the victim had not posted anything about crypto before. He also alleges that the victim's account appears to have been bought recently.

 

"He will probably shill the coin at some point or say that he will take donations from the coin," YokaiCapital went on to write. 

 

However, the victim has denied allegations that he intentionally wanted to trend and claims the stolen funds were long-term holdings.

 

 

How the Attackers Moved the Stolen Funds

Tracking the stolen funds, blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence said that the attackers moved the funds across Layer 2 networks, Bitcoin, and Monero, obviously to evade trail.

 

 

 

Roughly $20 million of the stolen funds were stored in two Ethereum addresses as DAI, a stablecoin on the Ethereum network, while $2.48 million was bridged to USDC on Arbitrum.

 

Arkham reported that the attackers sent $2.47 million to Hyperliquid through 19 separate Wagyu accounts, which were used to convert the funds to Monero (XMR).

 

The attackers also bridged $1.1 million to the Bitcoin blockchain using LiFi, noting that 0.5 BTC was deposited into a mixing service, Arkham added.

 

 

 

Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds have attracted roughly $1.7 billion in net inflows since February 24, ending a prolonged stretch of redemptions and renewing confidence that institutional buyers are stepping back in.

 

The reversal has been sharp. After months of steady outflows, nearly every major U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF is now recording net positive flows for 2026. That matters because ETF flow data has become, more than any other metric, the closest thing to a real-time read on institutional sentiment toward Bitcoin.

 

BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) is doing most of the heavy lifting. On March 4 alone, IBIT absorbed $306.60 million, roughly 66% of that day's total inflows across all spot Bitcoin products. Since February 24, BlackRock has accumulated a net 21,814 BTC through the fund, valued at approximately $1.55 billion at current prices. Year-to-date, IBIT has added around $300 million in capital even as Bitcoin itself fell about 16% over the same period.

 

The timing is notable. Bitcoin has traded around $72,000 this week, bouncing from lows near $60,000 earlier in the year. That low represented a roughly 52% pullback from its all-time high of $122,000 reached last year — a correction that, by historical standards, was relatively contained. Past cycles saw declines of 80% to 90% from peak. The smaller drawdown this cycle has been widely attributed to the stabilizing influence of institutional ownership through regulated vehicles.

 

The inflow pattern itself tells a story. Exchange balances have stayed relatively flat while ETF custodians accumulate, suggesting the capital flowing in isn't being deployed through spot crypto exchanges. These are investors using traditional brokerage accounts and registered vehicles, the pension funds, registered investment advisors, and wealth managers who entered the market only after last year's ETF approvals made it operationally feasible.

 

Three consecutive days of $1.1 billion in net inflows at the end of February set the pace. IBIT alone captured roughly $652 million over that stretch. Fidelity's FBTC and Ark Invest's ARKB recorded positive flows too, though significantly smaller.

 

Whether the inflow trend holds depends partly on what happens at the Federal Reserve. On March 18, the Fed will announce its latest interest rate decision. Markets have been pricing in at least a pause in rate hikes after the central bank eased its tightening stance in late 2025, and any signal of cuts could accelerate flows into risk assets including crypto.

 

There's also the regulatory backdrop. The Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would formally divide crypto assets into SEC-regulated securities and CFTC-regulated commodities, remains stalled in the Senate after a markup was delayed in January with no rescheduled date. Clarity on that front would likely deepen institutional participation further. Until then, ETF flows remain the clearest signal of where the institutional money is going.

 

Right now, it's going into Bitcoin.

 

Eric Halem, a former Los Angeles Police Department officer, has been found guilty of kidnapping a 17-year-old and stealing $350,000 worth of crypto after invading his home in 2024.

 

Halem, who served with the LAPD for 13 years but retired in 2022, was said to have illegally invaded the home of the teen, named Daniel, alongside three co-conspirators.

 

Upon gaining entrance into the teen's home under the guise of carrying out a search warrant, Halem subdued both the teen and his girlfriend, threatening to shoot him if he didn't hand over a hard drive containing Bitcoin. Apparently, the teen did have a significant amount of crypto.

 

Although Halem has been found guilty by the court, his sentencing is scheduled for March 31. And since he's been tried for kidnapping and robbery, which fall under California's aggravated statutes, Halem risks spending a long time in prison.

 

 

The Rise of Wrench Attacks

A wrench attack, also known as the $5 wrench attack, involves physical threats or violence to force a person to hand over their crypto private keys.

 

There has been an increase in the number of wrench attacks within the last few years. According to a 2025 security report from blockchain security firm CertiK, there were 72 recorded incidents of wrench attacks, a 75% increase from 2024.

 

     

 

Certik also reported a loss of more than $40.9 million from these attacks, with Europe accounting for 40% of these attacks worldwide, and kidnapping being the most common method used by assailants.

 

Jameson Lopp, Co-founder and Chief Security Officer of crypto security firm Casa Inc, has also been documenting these crypto wrench attacks from 2014 to date in a GitHub repository named "physical-bitcoin-attacks."

 

Based on tracked incidents in the GitHub repo, there have been 16 documented crypto-wrench attack cases this year alone, with France recording the most cases, with kidnapping being the most common method used by attackers. 

 

 

Image credit: Binance.com

 

 

Strategy, the world's largest public holder of Bitcoin, has deepened its Bitcoin bet, completing its 101st Bitcoin purchase. 

 

According to a filing made to the US Securities and Exchange Commission on Monday of this week, Strategy acquired 3,015 bitcoins for $204.1 million last week.

 

Based on information available on the US SEC website, the average purchase price for this transaction was $67,700 per BTC, below the company's average acquisition price of $75,985. With this latest purchase, Strategy now has total Bitcoin holdings of 720,737 BTC.

 

Image credit: sec.gov

Saylor’s Long-Term Bitcoin Strategy

Michael Saylor, often regarded as the Bitcoin bull, has long been one of the strongest advocates of Bitcoin's long-term value. His belief system was first made public in August 2020 when his company, Strategy, purchased 21,454 Bitcoins for about $250 million. 

 

Rather than continue holding traditional assets in its treasury, Strategy announced it would be making Bitcoin a core part of its treasury reserve. 

 

Regarding this 2020 purchase, Saylor himself said: 

 

"This investment reflects our belief that bitcoin, as the world's most widely adopted cryptocurrency, is a dependable store of value and an attractive investment asset with more long-term appreciation potential than holding cash." 

 

Since that day, Strategy has steadily accumulated Bitcoin, even during bearish market seasons. 

 

To understand Strategy's stacking strategy, here is an overview of how it has accumulated Bitcoin over the last six years:

 

2020: Acquired 70,470 BTC (started Aug. 11 with the first purchase of 21,454 BTC; reached total holdings of 70,470 by Dec. 21)

2021: Acquired 53,921 BTC (total holdings reached 124,391 BTC by Dec. 30).

2022: Acquired 8,109 BTC (total holdings reached 132,500 BTC by year-end).

2023: Acquired 56,650 BTC (total holdings reached 189,150 BTC by Dec. 26).

2024: Acquired 257,250 BTC (total holdings reached 446,400 BTC by Dec. 30).

2025: Acquired 226,097 BTC (total holdings reached 672,497 BTC by Dec. 29).

2026: Has acquired 48,240 BTC, with total holdings reaching 720,737 BTC.

 

By steadily acquiring Bitcoin through open-market transactions, Strategy has cemented its position as the world's largest public holder of Bitcoin, making these purchases in a way that does not cause any short-term imbalance in the crypto market.

 

 

How the Market Reacted

Upon the announcement of this news, MicroStrategy's common stock (MSTR) experienced an uptick, jumping from $123 last Monday to $129 on Friday, a 4.7% increase. 

The biggest gain for the MSTR stock, however, occurred on Wednesday, when it rose to $135. This increase suggests renewed investor confidence in Saylor's bitcoin purchase strategy. Even in bearish market conditions, Saylor's vision for Bitcoin remains unchanged.

 

Image credit: investing.com

 

Despite experiencing sharper selling pressure in February, with its price falling 14.8% to 15% from its January closing price of $78,621, Bitcoin experienced a slight uptick in its price, rising from $64,000 last Monday to $65,000 by Friday of last week.

 

 

I came into Bitcoin in mid-2017. Not early, not late, but early enough to catch the euphoria and late enough to feel the consequences. I watched that cycle go vertical, then watched it unwind in slow motion through 2018. I stayed through the 2020–2022 cycle, including the November 2021 peak and the long grind down that followed.

 

So when Bitcoin slipped back toward $70,000 this week, the feeling wasn’t panic..well, maybe some panic. But there certainly was some recognition. The same quiet tension I’ve felt before, when the market shifts from confidence to defense and nobody is quite ready to admit it.

 

This move looks familiar on the surface. Risk assets are under pressure, equities are shaky, and Bitcoin is once again trading like the most volatile expression of risk in the room. But the environment around it feels very different than it did the last two times I lived through this.

 

 

Why $70,000 Matters More Than Most Want To Admit

 

For anyone who lived through 2021, $70K isn’t just a number. November of 2021 marked the prior cycle’s peak near $69,000. For years, that level symbolized excess. More recently, trading above it felt like proof that the market had finally moved on.

 

Once Bitcoin slipped back into that zone, the mood shifted fast. Selling stopped being about opinions and started being about mechanics. Stops were hit. Leverage came out. Liquidations took over. That transition is something I’ve learned to respect. When the market turns mechanical, it usually overshoots.That is obvious on both sides, euphoria and near depression.

 

I saw the same thing in early 2018 and again in 2022. Different triggers, same behavior.

 

 

BTC Still Trades Like A Risk Asset

 

As much as I want Bitcoin to be treated differently, moments like this remind me that it still trades like a high beta risk asset when macro pressure shows up.

 

Equities, especially tech, have been weak. Volatility is up. Liquidity feels tighter. In that environment, Bitcoin rarely resists. It amplifies. Crypto trades 24/7, it’s easy to exit quickly, and it’s deeply intertwined with leverage. When investors want to reduce risk immediately, Bitcoin is often first in line.

 

Once liquidations start cascading, fundamentals stop mattering in the short term. Exchanges sell into weakness, bids step away, and price pushes through levels that felt solid just days earlier.

 

ETF flows add a new dynamic I didn’t have to think about in 2018 or even 2021. Institutional money can now enter and exit Bitcoin daily. That can support price over time, but during drawdowns it can also accelerate downside when outflows cluster.

 

 

What Past Cycles Taught Us

 

Living through the 2017 peak and the 2018 bear market changed how I think about Bitcoin permanently. Support can fail. Narratives can break. Time can do more damage than price. And something always happens that you least expect.

 

The 2020–2022 cycle reinforced that lesson. After peaking in November 2021, Bitcoin fell roughly 75 percent into the November 2022 lows. That wasn’t just a crash, it was a year of slow erosion that wore people down.

 

Those experiences make it hard for me to assume this cycle can’t get uglier. Bitcoin has always been good at humbling people who think they’ve seen it all.

 

At the same time, I can’t ignore what’s different now.

 

 

Will This Cycle Be Different?

 

In 2017 and 2021, regulation was mostly noise. Institutions were cautious or absent. Spot ETFs didn’t exist. Bitcoin lived largely outside traditional markets

 

That’s no longer true.

 

Efforts like the Clarity Act and broader moves to define digital commodities give Bitcoin something it’s never really had during a downturn, a clearer legal and regulatory framework. That matters more when prices are falling than when they’re rising.

 

Institutions also behave differently than retail traders. They don’t buy because of excitement or belief. They buy because mandates allow them to. That can create steadier demand when prices fall far enough.

 

But they also sell without emotion. When risk models say reduce exposure, they reduce it. No attachment, no narrative. That means drawdowns can still be sharp, but they may resolve differently than in prior cycles.

 

This is the tension I’m trying to navigate in this cycle. Regulation and institutional access could limit the worst outcomes we’ve seen before. They could also change the character of both rallies and declines in ways we haven’t fully experienced yet.

 

 

Is This The Bottom?

 

Honestly, It feels rough out there and I know I wish this was the bottom. Maybe we see some relief before more pain? Or, in true crypto fashion, we rip the band-aid off and go even further down today, but I don’t think it’s safe to assume it’s the bottom of this cycle.

 

Liquidations have already done some eal damage. Sentiment has flipped quickly. Price is sitting near a level that matters historically and psychologically. If ETF flows stabilize, forced selling fades, and equities stop sliding, a bottoming process could start soon.

 

But I’ve been around long enough to know that real bottoms don’t feel relieving. They feel boring. They form through time, failed breakdowns, and long stretches where nothing seems to happen. This is happening fast so...the chop is still going to come. We may some moves up soon, and even more quick crashes, but the long boring bottom of the market has yet to reveal its face.

 

If conditions continue to deteriorate, Bitcoin will grind lower. Slow declines have always been more dangerous than fast crashes. They exhaust conviction. People just get complacent and leave.

 

 

 

What I’m Watching

 

Rather than trying to call the exact low, I’m focused on a few things.

 

Whether ETF flows stabilize over weeks, not days
Whether liquidation events shrink instead of cascade
Whether equities, especially tech, stop dragging crypto lower
Whether Bitcoin can reclaim broken levels and hold them, not just tag them

 

And time, true reversals don't happen fast. Those things just take time. That is true when the market is up and when the market is down.

 

I came into Bitcoin in 2017 thinking it was all about price. Staying through multiple cycles taught me it’s really about structure, psychology, and time.

 

This drop toward $70K feels familiar for a reason. What’s different is the environment around it. Institutions are here. Regulation is evolving. The market is more connected to traditional finance than it’s ever been.

 

I don’t know if that makes the outcome better or just different. What I do know is, that this fourth chapter I’m living through doesn’t feel like a clean repeat of the last one, and that alone is worth paying attention to. I also don't know if I made you feel better about this whole thing or not. Or maybe, I was just trying to make myself feel better in the end.