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In a week marked by a sharp downturn in crypto markets, two major corporate treasury companies continued to buy. Bitmine and Strategy both expanded their positions despite price pressure, though with different preferences: one is buying Ethereum at record speed, while the other is maintaining a more measured but steady pace in Bitcoin.Bitmine made its biggest weekly purchase of the yearBitmine bought 126,971 ETH last week. At current prices, the purchase is worth about $214 million, making it the company’s largest weekly transaction of 2026. The figure stood at only 26,497 ETH a week earlier, showing how sharply the pace increased.The company’s total ETH holdings have now reached 5.54 million. When 247 million dollars in cash, a small amount of Bitcoin, and investment stakes in Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings are added, the total portfolio value reaches 9.9 billion dollars.What makes this interesting is that Bitmine Chairman Thomas Lee had said a few weeks ago that the company would slow its pace of purchases. The reason made sense; the company was approaching its goal of holding 5 percent of ETH’s total supply. That figure now stands at 4.59 percent, meaning the target has almost been reached. But the market downturn appears to have changed the plan.Lee said this week: “We increased our purchases because we believe this pullback in ETH prices does not reflect Ethereum’s strengthening fundamentals.”Given this approach, Bitmine really stands in a different place among crypto treasury companies. Many rivals have either paused their purchases or sold altogether as prices have fallen sharply since October. Bitmine is doing the opposite. No one knows how this will end; the company’s current paper loss is estimated at around 9.6 billion dollars. ETH has lost more than 65 percent of its value since its record high in August and has fallen to its lowest levels in the past year.The company also announced that it will issue a class of preferred shares paying a 9.5 percent dividend to raise additional financing. This is a model long used by Bitcoin-focused Strategy. However, Strategy’s own version of this model is now being questioned by investors. The company’s latest preferred share class, STRC, fell to 90 dollars as of last Friday, 10 percent below its nominal value. Whether dividend obligations can be met is now being debated.Strategy bought another 1,550 BTCMeanwhile, Strategy did not remain inactive either. The company bought 1,550 Bitcoin for approximately 101 million dollars. With this purchase, its total Bitcoin reserve rose to 845,256 BTC. The timing of the purchase is notable. Last week, Bitcoin fell by around 15 percent and briefly dropped below 60,000 dollars. It later recovered and moved above 62,000 dollars, but the loss was still there. On top of that, a filing surfaced showing that Michael Saylor sold 32 BTC on June 1, adding further pressure to an already tense market.Strategy made this purchase at an average price of 65,332 dollars. Since the company’s all-time average purchase cost is still 75,680 dollars, the transaction can be seen as a move to lower its cost basis. To finance the purchase, the company sold 181 million dollars worth of stock during the period. Its cash reserve also increased by 100 million dollars, reaching 1 billion dollars.Two different approaches, the same uncertaintyBitmine and Strategy represent two different versions of the corporate crypto treasury model. One is aggressively accumulating ETH with a target of holding 5 percent of the supply; the other is adding Bitcoin at a more measured but consistent rhythm. Both are positioning themselves against the broader market trend.It is hard to say which one will be proven right. Bitmine’s paper loss has reached enormous levels, while Strategy’s dividend model is being closely watched by investors. If markets recover, these two companies may be remembered as the boldest institutional investors of the period. If they do not, the picture will clearly be read differently.
BTC is trading roughly $9,000 below its max pain level as a major options batch expires today following a week marked by heavy liquidations.Deribit, one of the leading exchanges in the crypto derivatives market, announced that around $1.81 billion worth of crypto options contracts will expire today at 11:00 a.m. Turkey time. Coming right after a week of sustained selling pressure and more than $1.5 billion in liquidations, this expiry represents a double layer of stress for market participants.BTC options: $1.56 billionMost of the expiring contracts are tied to Bitcoin. The total notional value of BTC options stands at $1.56 billion. The put/call ratio is 0.56, clearly showing a call-heavy structure, with long-position sellers far outpacing the short side. Max pain, the price point where options writers make the lowest payout and the largest number of contracts expire worthless, is at $71,000. BTC spot is currently trading roughly $9,000 below that level. If the expiry closes under these conditions, a large portion of contracts will end out of the money.According to Deribit data, the highest concentration of open interest is at the $80,000 strike price, with $1.6 billion. The short side is not silent either: there is still $1.1 billion in OI at $60,000. Coinglass figures show that total BTC options OI across all exchanges has recently declined to around $31.6 billion.ETH options: $252 millionThe Ethereum side presents a slightly different picture. Around 153,500 contracts will expire today, with a notional value of $252 million. Max pain stands at $2,000, while the put/call ratio is 0.97, almost perfectly neutral. On the ETH side, neither bulls nor bears have established a clear advantage. Total ETH options OI across all exchanges is hovering around $5.7 billion.After a bloody weekThis expiry comes at the end of an extremely painful week for the crypto market. More than $300 billion was wiped from the market’s total value over the week. Bitcoin briefly fell below $62,000, while $1.5 billion in liquidations left both long and short position holders with heavy losses.Derivatives analytics platform Greeks Live said that bears became more aggressive after the price broke below $70,000, with a notable increase in put positions at the $68,000, $65,000 and $60,000 levels.Geopolitical tensions continue to add pressure. The military conflict between the United States and Iran has not been resolved in recent weeks, while global inflationary pressures have started to resurface. In this environment, risk appetite remains fragile, and institutional investors are keeping their hedging positions in place.Market impactAlthough the figure sounds large, analysts describe this expiry as a “relatively small event.” The $1.85 billion volume, which is far below last week’s month-end expiry package, is not expected to trigger a significant move in spot markets.Still, BTC spot trading this far below the max pain level cannot be ignored. During expiry periods, prices are often seen moving toward max pain. Whether that dynamic plays out this week will become clear within the next few hours.
Security researcher 0xflorent returned 1,003.62 ETH to investors after the funds had remained inaccessible for nine years in the smart contract of a failed 2016 ICO. The funds, worth around $2 million at current prices, had been locked all this time because of a bug in the contract’s refund function.Contract bug fixed after 9 yearsThe contract belonged to HongCoin, also known as “The HONG,” a project launched in 2016 as a community-based investment fund. When the project failed to reach its funding target, investors were supposed to receive automatic refunds. That never happened.The root of the problem was in code written with an old version of Solidity. The contract’s refund function was designed in a way that rejected any investor whose token balance was higher than a global counter. Partial refunds over the years pushed this counter down to 356; in practice, the refund limit was trapped at 3.56 ETH, around $7,000. Most of the investors waiting for refunds had balances far above that threshold.0xflorent found the solution in an administrator function within the contract. This function, originally written for token distribution, contained an integer overflow vulnerability that later Solidity versions closed through SafeMath. When called with a specific input value, it reset an investor’s balance to 1, allowing the refund check to be passed and the funds to be released. Still, this was not something that could be carried out unilaterally. The relevant administrator function was restricted to HongCoin’s multisignature wallet. 0xflorent first contacted the team, verified the steps on a mainnet fork using Foundry, and the transactions were signed by the team members themselves. Around one week passed between the first email and the final transaction.In total, the team signed 41 transactions, each corresponding to a separate investor. Seven investors with sufficiently small balances received their refunds directly without needing this procedure. As a result of the recovery, 48 original investors became able to claim their funds. As of Sunday, two of them had done so, claiming a total of 96.5 ETH, or roughly $193,000. These two investors voluntarily sent 0xflorent a “whitehat bounty,” though there was no obligation to do so. The researcher says he took no commission or cut, and that curiosity was the only thing behind the work.This is the second successful recovery 0xflorent has publicly shared in the past eight days. On May 24, he said he had recovered 19.329 ETH from two old contracts: 5.141 ETH from a failed 2018 ICO where the funds were waiting behind an uncalled refund function, and 14.190 ETH from seven expired atomic swaps belonging to Liquality Wallet, which shut down in 2024.0xflorent does not make much of a mystery out of his methodology. He set up a self-hosted Ethereum node, built a scanner that flags every contract holding more than 100 ETH, and then reviewed the candidates one by one. “Many contracts are forks of others, so a vulnerability in one can affect every contract in the same cluster,” he says, adding that the well-known major clusters have already been scanned to a large extent.He also used Claude Code in his work, though with one caveat: “Artificial intelligence is influenced by the fact that the contract has not been broken before. So it often concludes, ‘It cannot be broken, I tried everything,’ which is usually wrong.”The recovery comes at a time when the DeFi ecosystem has been shaken by a serious wave of exploits. In April alone, hundreds of millions of dollars were stolen from various protocols, with the largest attack causing around $293 million in damage to Kelp DAO. One of the co-founders of security firm OpenZeppelin also recently declared “all of DeFi” unsafe.“I want to see a counter-movement of people trying to protect systems instead of exploiting them,” 0xflorent says. “It is more satisfying morally, and it can also provide a good financial return.”
Standard Chartered Bank argues that Ethereum’s sharp price decline in recent months has fallen far behind what on-chain data suggests. The bank compares ETH’s current situation to Amazon stock during the 2001 dot-com crash.Geoffrey Kendrick, Global Head of Digital Assets Research at Standard Chartered, referred to a 2018 speech by Jeff Bezos in a report shared on Thursday. Bezos had said that Amazon’s stock fell from $113 to $6 at the time, while the company’s internal metrics continued to improve throughout the same period. Kendrick makes the same point for ETH: the price is falling, but what is happening in the background has little to do with that.“AMZN stock has risen 1,000x from its 2001 lows on a split-adjusted basis. ETH will also catch up with its internal metrics sooner or later. It is only a matter of timing,” Kendrick said.Transaction volume and TVL hit records despite price declineETH has lost around 57% of its value since its August 2025 peak and is currently trading around $2,000. The ETH/BTC ratio has also declined by 37% over the same period. However, Ethereum’s transaction count and total value locked (TVL) measured in ETH remain close to all-time highs. In other words, the network is being used; the price is simply masking that activity.According to Kendrick, this divergence is not permanent. Strong metrics will eventually be reflected in the price. The bank maintains its targets of $4,000 by the end of 2026 and $40,000 by the end of 2030. It also expects the ETH/BTC ratio to move back toward its 2021 highs, near the 0.08 level, by the end of this decade.Stablecoin and RWA growth could support EthereumAt the center of Kendrick’s bullish scenario are stablecoins and the growth of real-world asset (RWA) tokenization.Currently, 54% of all stablecoins are on Ethereum. Since the beginning of 2026, one-third of Ethereum transactions have consisted of stablecoin transfers, while 60% of gross TVL also falls into this category. The bank forecasts that the total stablecoin market cap could rise from the current $321 billion to around $2 trillion by the end of 2028, representing sixfold growth. Such expansion would also proportionally increase Ethereum’s weight within the ecosystem.The picture is even more striking on the tokenized RWA side. Ethereum accounts for 62% of non-stablecoin RWAs and 68% of active on-chain credit. Kendrick expects this sector to grow 50x by the end of 2028 and reach $2 trillion. “If RWAs multiply as we expect, the importance of this sector for Ethereum will become much more visible. Transaction counts and TVL will continue to break records, which will push the price higher,” he said.Ethereum Economic Zone and regulatory groundworkKendrick also sees the upcoming Ethereum Economic Zone (EEZ) project as an important catalyst. EEZ is expected to allow assets to move more freely across the Ethereum ecosystem and reduce composability problems between protocols. It is also expected to reduce reliance on bridges, which have historically been vulnerable to cyberattacks. This could mark a step forward in both security and usability.On the regulatory front, progress on the Clarity Act in the United States, the crypto market structure bill, also stands out. Kendrick believes a clearer legal framework would support decentralized finance (DeFi) growth and Ethereum activity.In short, the picture is clear: the Ethereum network has become an infrastructure capable of carrying transactions and value at this scale. The price has not yet reflected this. Standard Chartered believes it is only a matter of time before this divergence closes. Here's Ethereum's current price:
Ethereum treasury company Bitmine Immersion Technologies (BMNR) bought 111,942 ETH last week. This marked the company’s largest weekly purchase since December 2024. Its total ETH holdings reached 5.39 million tokens; 4.47% of Ethereum’s circulating supply of 120.7 million tokens is now held by this company.At today’s prices, the weekly purchase is worth roughly $237 million. ETH is currently trading around $2,134. Plan changed, pace increasedAt the Consensus 2026 conference held in Miami in early May, Chairman Tom Lee said they would slow the pace of weekly purchases. Within a week or two, the plan changed. ETH fell from around $2,400 in April and early May to near $2,100. Bitmine saw this decline as worth buying.Lee said this directly in the company’s official statement: “We continue to steadily buy ETH. We view price levels below $2,200 as an attractive opportunity.” He also repeated the company’s goal of holding 5% of supply in 2026. In the company’s own words, it has reached 4.47% in 11 months on its way to the “alchemy of 5%.” In other words, it has completed 89% of the target.Lee also emphasized that they see two major catalysts ahead for Ethereum: Wall Street’s asset tokenization and the growing need of AI agents for public blockchains. Bitmine presents these two trends as the core arguments behind its ETH accumulation strategy.The full portfolioBitmine’s total crypto and cash holdings stand at $12.3 billion. ETH is the dominant part of this portfolio; 5.39 million tokens are worth around $11.5 billion at $2,134. The company also holds 203 Bitcoin and $444 million in cash.The portfolio also includes equity positions the company calls “moonshots”: a $200 million stake in Beast Industries and a $95 million stake in Eightco Holdings (NASDAQ: ORBS). Eightco is one of the few publicly traded companies in the world that offers indirect exposure to OpenAI.Staking: More than accumulationBitmine has staked 87% of its ETH holdings, equal to more than 4.71 million tokens. At a price of $2,134, this position is worth $10.1 billion. Annual staking revenue has reached around $276 million, while the seven-day yield was reported at 2.75%.Bitmine also built its own infrastructure for a staking operation of this scale. MAVAN, short for Made in America VAlidator Network, was launched in 2026 and was initially developed only to stake Bitmine’s own ETH. Now its scope is expanding; the company plans to open it to institutional investors, custodians and ecosystem partners.Global rankingBitmine maintains its position as the world’s largest ETH treasury. In the global crypto treasury ranking, it is second only to Strategy Inc. (MSTR). Strategy holds a portfolio worth $64 billion with around 818,000 BTC.The stock’s liquidity also paints a notable picture. According to Fundstrat data, BMNR’s five-day average daily trading volume stands at $572 million, placing it 193rd among 5,704 US-listed companies. It ranks just behind Trane Technologies at 192 and ahead of Delta Airlines at 194.Institutional supportThe company’s investor base also stands out. Institutional names such as Cathie Wood’s ARK Invest, Founders Fund, Pantera Capital, Kraken, DCG and Galaxy Digital are among Bitmine’s shareholders. Tom Lee also continues to support the company both as Bitmine’s chairman and as a personal investor.In April 2026, the company moved from NYSE American to the New York Stock Exchange. Its ticker remained BMNR.While assessing the market outlook, Lee also highlighted the GENIUS Act and the SEC’s Project Crypto initiative. He compares these regulatory steps to the United States abandoning the gold standard in 1971; pointing to how that decision transformed Wall Street, he argues that today’s crypto regulations could have a similar impact.
Blockchain security remains one of the most challenging issues in the crypto market. Bridges, which facilitate asset transfers between different networks, have become a frequent target for attackers in recent years. The latest example is a security breach on the Verus Protocol's Ethereum bridge. On Monday, a large-scale attack was detected on the cross-chain bridge known as the Verus-Ethereum bridge. This bridge allows users to transfer value between the Verus network and Ethereum, including ETH and ERC-20 assets. However, the attacker managed to trick the system with a fake cross-chain transfer message, withdrawing millions of dollars worth of assets from the bridge reserves. On-chain security platform Blockaid announced via X that they had detected an ongoing attack on the Verus-Ethereum bridge. According to the shared transaction data, the attacker transferred 1,625 ETH, 147,659 USDC, and 103.57 tBTC v2, the tokenized Bitcoin asset of the Threshold Network. The total value of these assets is estimated to be over $11.5 million.Blockchain security company PeckShield also assessed the transaction as an attack exploiting a security vulnerability. According to on-chain data, the attacker later converted the stolen assets into ETH. The wallet in question held 5,402 ETH, worth over $11 million. Fake transfer message tricked the systemInitial findings indicate that the attack did not stem from a private key hijacking or a classic signature verification vulnerability. According to Blockaid, the attacker tricked the bridge into believing that fake transfer instructions were valid. Thus, the protocol sent assets from its reserves to the attacker's wallet.Blockaid noted similarities to the Nomad Bridge and Wormhole attacks of 2022. The Nomad attack resulted in the loss of approximately $190 million, while the Wormhole attack resulted in the loss of $325 million. Therefore, although the Verus attack appears smaller in terms of amount, the method used has brought fundamental security issues in crypto bridges back to the forefront.According to Blockaid's technical assessment, the problem is; The ECDSA signature breach wasn't a notary key compromise or a hash-binding error. The platform stated that the vulnerability stemmed from a missing source quantity validation in "checkCCEValues." According to the company, this deficiency was a security flaw that could be patched with approximately 10 lines of code on the Solidity side.Blockchain security provider ExVul made a similar assessment. The company reported that the attacker used a "fake cross-chain import payload" and that this data managed to pass through the bridge's validation stream. As a result, the attacker processed three different transfers linked to their own wallet.Bridges were once again the weakest linkThe Verus-Ethereum attack once again demonstrated how critical a risk area bridge infrastructures are in the crypto market. Cross-chain bridges provide liquidity and ease of use between different blockchain networks. However, they also broaden the attack surface because they operate between multiple networks, validation layers, and messaging systems. According to the crypto exchange Phemex, the biggest losses recently have stemmed from attacks targeting cross-chain connectivity and messaging infrastructure rather than directly targeting smart contracts. The Drift and Kelp DAO attacks are cited as significant examples of this trend. In April, the targeting of Kelp DAO's cross-chain messaging infrastructure, which runs on LayerZero, resulted in a loss of approximately $293 million. This suggests that bridge attacks could cause significant losses in 2026, as they have in previous years. In the first quarter, more than $168.6 million in assets were stolen from decentralized finance protocols. In April, the two largest attacks of the year were recorded; Drift Protocol lost approximately $280 million, and Kelp lost $292 million. Verus had not officially confirmed the attack at the time of writing. However, statements from security companies such as Blockaid, PeckShield, and ExVul, based on on-chain data, are causing concern.
The crypto market is on the verge of a new volatility, under pressure from billions of dollars worth of option contracts expiring on May 1st and the impact of global developments. The closing of options, particularly concentrated in Bitcoin and Ethereum, could be decisive in determining the direction of price movements in the short term.Billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum options are expiringAccording to data from Deribit, a leading derivatives market platform, approximately $2.14 billion worth of cryptocurrency options are expiring today. Bitcoin options account for $1.74 billion of this, while Ethereum options are worth approximately $394-400 million.Approximately 23,000 Bitcoin option contracts are expected to close, and the put/call ratio is noteworthy at 1.10. This ratio indicates that sell (put) positions are higher than buy (call) positions, suggesting a cautious outlook among investors. The maximum pain point, defined as the price level at which options become worthless, is around $76,000. The fact that Bitcoin's spot price is trading very close to this level strengthens the expectation that the price may stabilize around this range. Looking at the option distribution, a high trading volume is noticeable between $75,500 and $77,000. This indicates that the market is still in a short-term squeeze and searching for direction. Deribit analysts point out that the price may consolidate around $76,000, especially after the expiry date. The fact that 95% of options are likely to close above this level, according to current data, suggests that the price may find equilibrium without experiencing a sharp downward break.However, indicators shared by the on-chain data provider Glassnode reveal that Bitcoin is still trading below some critical levels. The average cost of short-term investors being around $78,900 shows that the current price is below the cost of this group. Furthermore, the fact that the $78,000 level, considered the "true market average," has not yet been surpassed suggests that upward movements may remain limited. Below, the $65,000-$70,000 range stands out as a strong support area.What about Ethereum?A similar picture emerges on the Ethereum side. With over 175,000 option contracts expiring, the total size reaches approximately $400 million. At first glance, the put/call ratio appears more balanced at 0.95, but data from the last 24 hours shows this ratio has risen to 1.17. This change reveals that investors have adopted a more cautious position in the short term and are seeking protection against a possible pullback.The maximum pain point for Ethereum is at $2,325, and the fact that the current price remains below this level is noteworthy. This situation raises the possibility that the price may enter a search for upward equilibrium. Indeed, in the last 24 hours, the Ethereum price has risen by approximately 1.5 percent, fluctuating between $2,232 and $2,293. However, the 45% drop in trading volume suggests that this rise may be a temporary recovery rather than a strong momentum.On the macro side, the picture is even more complex. The PCE inflation data released in the US, reaching 3.5%, the highest level in the last three years, stands out as a factor limiting risk appetite in the markets. In addition, tensions between the US and Iran and developments around the Strait of Hormuz have pushed oil prices to $106, indicating that inflationary pressures may increase again. This increases volatility in risky markets, including crypto assets.
An early investor in Ethereum (ETH) has drawn attention to the market by reactivating a wallet that had been inactive for years. This investor, who participated in the initial coin offering (ICO) in 2015, moved a significant portion of their assets, untouched for nearly 10 years, to a new address. According to blockchain data, the wallet, known as “0xCD5…7a336,” transferred a total of 10,000 ETH to a different address on Tuesday evening. The current market value of this transfer is estimated at approximately $23 million. Considering that the wallet acquired these assets for only $3,100 during Ethereum's ICO, the investment has increased in value by over 7,400 times over time. The reactivation of such long-inactive wallets is generally interpreted as significant signals in the crypto market. The actions of early investors (whales), in particular, are closely monitored by market participants, as these types of transfers are often seen as preparation for a potential sell-off. However, there is currently no clear information about the exact purpose of this transaction.On the other hand, this development coincides with the recent resurgence of similar movements. During the strong bull run in 2025, a significant portion of Ethereum ICO participants moved their assets after many years. In particular, the transfer of 150,000 ETH by another early investor last September caused a wide stir in the market. Such large-scale transfers generally have the potential to create short-term pressure on market liquidity and price dynamics.What is the current state of Ethereum price?The Ethereum price is following a relatively stable course in the shadow of these developments. According to current data, ETH is trading at around $2,335, with an increase of approximately 2% in the last 24 hours. However, this price remains well below the all-time high of $4,946 recorded last year. This indicates that a strong upward trend has not yet fully formed in the market. Ongoing macroeconomic uncertainties and expectations regarding central bank monetary policies continue to be decisive factors for crypto assets. In particular, the Federal Reserve's (Fed) interest rate decisions and inflation data play a critical role in determining the direction of the broader crypto market, including Ethereum. Therefore, macroeconomic developments, as well as large investor movements, continue to influence pricing. As a result, this ICO wallet, which has become active after years, has attracted attention. Whether these assets will be transferred to exchanges in the coming days and whether a potential sell-off will occur will be closely watched by market participants.
Institutional interest in spot Bitcoin ETFs in the US has accelerated again. According to data from April 23rd, spot Bitcoin ETFs recorded net inflows exceeding $223 million on a daily basis, maintaining a positive flow for the eighth consecutive day. Total inflows exceeding $2 billion over the past eight days suggest that institutional investors are viewing the post-2025 correction period as an accumulation opportunity. According to SoSoValue data, BlackRock's IBIT fund saw the largest share of inflows that day, totaling $167.5 million. Positive flows were also seen in Ark Invest/21Shares, Morgan Stanley, and Grayscale. On the other hand, Fidelity, Bitwise, and VanEck's Bitcoin funds experienced outflows totaling approximately $30 million. Source: The Block The picture is weaker for Ethereum. Spot Ethereum ETFs recorded net outflows of approximately $76 million on the same day, following a ten-day streak of uninterrupted inflows. The sudden shift in direction of ETH ETFs, which saw inflows of over $96 million on the previous trading day, suggests that the market is giving more weight to Bitcoin in the short term.Institutional demand is strengthening, Bitcoin is taking center stageMarket experts state that ETF flows now reflect a more structural demand rather than short-term speculative movements. According to Bitrue Research Leader Andri Fauzan Adziima, institutional investors are now positioning Bitcoin not just as a trading instrument, but as a stabilizing element in portfolios. This approach, combined with continuous buying through ETFs, especially during a period when supply has tightened after the halving, is creating a lasting demand base in the market.The Bitcoin price has risen by approximately 10% in the last 30 days and is currently stabilizing around $78,000. However, this level is still well below the peak of approximately $126,000 seen in October 2025. Nevertheless, the fact that Bitcoin dominance has risen above 60% indicates that the market is becoming increasingly BTC-weighted. In this period where altcoins are generally performing poorly, the flow of capital into Bitcoin is noteworthy. According to experts, if ETF inflows continue at this pace, the $85,000 to $90,000 range could emerge as the "base scenario" for Bitcoin. However, the possibility of a retest of the $74,000 to $70,000 range in the event of a slowdown in flows is not being ignored. On the macro side, geopolitical developments continue to be decisive for the markets. While US President Donald Trump's decision to extend the ceasefire with Iran indefinitely supports risk appetite in the short term, tensions around the Strait of Hormuz have not been fully resolved. This situation reveals that the crypto market is still sensitive to macroeconomic issues. On the other hand, the approximately $8.6 billion worth of Bitcoin and Ethereum options expiry that took place on April 24 is also being closely watched in terms of short-term volatility.
One of the most critical days of the month in the crypto derivatives markets has passed. Bitcoin and Ethereum options contracts, totaling approximately $9.8 billion, expired on April 24th, with prices closing above their "max pain" levels. This indicates that the overall market trend remains upward, while the decrease in volatility has led to a more cautious interpretation of the rally's nature. According to the data, expiry transactions covered approximately 109,000 Bitcoin contracts, reaching a total nominal value of $8.55 billion. On the Ethereum side, 563,000 contracts stood out, corresponding to approximately $1.32 billion. This was recorded as the highest options closing price of April. The "max pain" level, frequently referenced in the options market, is known as the price point where investors suffer the greatest possible losses. While Bitcoin was trading around $72,000, the spot price at expiry was noteworthy at approximately $77,900. This difference indicated that the market was exhibiting strength beyond expectations. A similar picture emerged for Ethereum. With its maximum price around $2,200, the ETH price traded at approximately $2,315.The put/call ratio in the options data also provided important signals regarding market sentiment. While this ratio showed a balanced appearance at 0.93 for Bitcoin, it remained at 0.72 for Ethereum, indicating a stronger bullish outlook. The significant prominence of call options, particularly on the Ethereum side, clearly revealed investors' expectations of a price increase.The open position distribution also supported this trend. While call and put contracts were quite close in Bitcoin, the call side showed a clear dominance in Ethereum. This suggests that there is a broader market optimism, rather than just short-term speculation. Market remains strong, volatility declinesOn the other hand, the decrease in implied volatility despite the rise in prices offered an important clue about the character of the market. According to analysts, volatility in Bitcoin options fell below 40%, while in Ethereum it dropped to around 60%. While volatility is normally expected to increase with price increases, the opposite picture emerged this time.This divergence shows that the current rise is supported by a more balanced capital flow rather than a sudden and speculative movement. In other words, there is a more controlled and institutionally focused entry into the market rather than aggressive leverage use. This is read as a signal that the rally may be more sustainable.In the coming period, eyes are turned to the new expiry dates. Approximately 12% of the existing open positions will expire at the end of May. The real critical threshold will be the quarterly closing at the end of June. It is expected that approximately 24% of the total positions will be resolved during this period. Analysts believe that the June expiry date will be more decisive in terms of market direction. If macroeconomic pressures ease towards the middle of the year, levels around $78,000 could become a strong support area for Bitcoin. However, if the current downward trend in volatility reverses, sharper price fluctuations may occur.
BitMine Immersion Technologies was initially founded as a cryptocurrency mining company. However, in late 2024, the company radically changed its strategy: it moved away from mining infrastructure and focused directly on Ethereum accumulation. This transformation was considered risky by many analysts at the time. ETH continued to be overshadowed by Bitcoin, institutional demand was uncertain, and the price still seemed far from its 2021 peaks. BitMine, however, continues on its path.BitMine Buys 101 ETHBitMine Immersion Technologies purchased 101,627 ETH in a single transaction last week. This marked the largest weekly purchase seen since December 15, 2025. With these latest purchases, the total Ethereum holdings are approaching 4.97 million. More than four percent of the total supply is now in the hands of a single institutional player. The value of this week's purchase alone exceeds $230 million; the total portfolio value is $12.9 billion. The rest of the market is quite silent on this matter. While most major digital asset treasuries are slowing down new purchases, BitMine is moving in the opposite direction. BitMine is perhaps the only company doing something similar to what Strategy is doing with Bitcoin, but on Ethereum.Explanation from Tom LeeChairman Tom Lee gets straight to the point: the "mini crypto winter" is ending. There is some data to support this claim. ETH fell to $1,755 in early February, representing a drop of about sixty percent from its 2025 peak. Considering Ethereum's all-time high is $4,953, a level expected to be reached in August 2025, the current price trajectory might seem cheap to long-term investors. Indeed, ETH has risen by six percent in the last week and about ten percent in the last month. At the time of writing, it is trading at $2,316. BitMine is increasing its buying pace during this period of recovery. According to Lee, the company has been deliberately expanding this position for the past four weeks. Moreover, they say, "We're in the final phase of the trend." But the really interesting part is the staking side. Approximately two-thirds of their ETH holdings, over 3.3 million units, are already staked. This translates to an annual return of approximately $221 million. So the company isn't just betting on price increases; they're making money while waiting. The number of institutional players adopting this model is still quite small.The portfolio also includes 199 BTC and $1.12 billion in cash. Investments in companies like Beast Industries and Eightco Holdings show that BitMine doesn't position itself as a pure crypto company. The company announced on April 12th that it holds 4.87 million ETH, a figure confirmed in its financial report which also included a net loss of $3.8 billion for the first quarter of 2026. The entire loss is due to the decline in the ETH price; there was no physical sale or operational loss.
Charles Schwab shared details of the Schwab Crypto platform this week. Expected to roll out gradually in the coming weeks, the platform will allow clients to buy and sell Bitcoin and Ethereum through the same account infrastructure they use for stock and bond trading. This move directly pits the company against Robinhood, which, while targeting a relatively young audience, has long offered stock and crypto trading under one roof, and is now adding additional financial services. Given Schwab's position as one of the world's largest brokerage firms with over $11 trillion in client assets, this move is attracting attention in the industry. Schwab Crypto accounts will be linked to existing brokerage accounts but will remain separate. The account will be offered under the Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, which will be responsible for the storage and recording of digital assets. Sub-custody and transaction execution services will be handled by Paxos, an OCC-regulated blockchain infrastructure provider. The transaction fee is set at 0.75% of the dollar value of each trade. For comparison, Robinhood's commission-free trading is still a possibility. Coinbase, on the other hand, applies different rates depending on user tiers. The company positions this pricing among the lowest in the market for crypto trading among major brokerage firms.Customers are interested in cryptocurrenciesSo, is the timing of this decision a coincidence? Not really. Schwab has been openly stating for months that its customers are interested in crypto investing. With the Trump administration's regulatory stance towards the sector becoming more pronounced, traditional financial institutions that had previously been on the sidelines have begun to take action. Schwab is not alone in this respect: Morgan Stanley recently launched a spot Bitcoin ETF, and Goldman Sachs has applied for a Bitcoin income ETF.Schab is actually no stranger to the crypto market. According to company data, Schwab customers currently hold approximately 20% of all spot crypto exchange-traded products. Existing access options on the platform include spot crypto ETPs, crypto futures, options on spot crypto ETPs, and crypto-focused mutual funds. The new platform adds direct spot trading to these.Initially, only Bitcoin and Ethereum will be supported. The company plans to add more cryptocurrencies to the platform in the future and introduce transfer features that will allow deposits and withdrawals, enabling customers to move their digital asset holdings from elsewhere to Schwab.The survey, conducted between July and September 2025, involved 460 crypto investors and potential investors. Participants highlighted three factors when choosing a crypto trading platform: low and transparent pricing, a familiar brand and trust, and the belief that digital assets will be kept safe. The market will show how competitive Schwab is in these three areas. Looking at the shares, they fell 2 percent following the company's quarterly financial results announced on Thursday. The crypto announcement did not offset this decline.
While institutional purchases in the crypto market continue unabated, two significant moves have been noted in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Strategy's recent Bitcoin purchase further increased the company's market share, while Bitmine's Ethereum holdings now encompass a significant portion of the supply. Strategy acquired an additional 13,927 Bitcoin for approximately $1 billion, with an average purchase price of $71,902. This latest transaction brings the company's total Bitcoin holdings to 780,897 BTC. The company's total investments to date reach $59.02 billion, with an average cost of $75,577. This size makes Strategy by far the largest institutional Bitcoin investor. The amount of BTC held by the company represents approximately 3.8% of the total circulating supply. This percentage indicates a very high concentration compared to other publicly traded companies. The company's CEO, Michael Saylor, shared a noteworthy calculation regarding the sustainability of their Bitcoin strategy. Accordingly, Strategy's BTC holdings only need to appreciate by 2.05% annually to cover its preferred stock dividends. This rate is quite low compared to Bitcoin's historical performance.Strategy's financing model also stands out at this point. The company largely finances its Bitcoin purchases through a variable-rate preferred stock instrument. The income from this instrument, which offers an annual return of approximately 11.5%, is directly reinvested in new BTC purchases. Based on the current reserve level, it is calculated that dividend payments can be covered for approximately 48 years.Purchases continue despite significant lossesDespite this aggressive buying strategy, the company faces significant fluctuations in the short term. In the first quarter of 2026, Strategy's digital asset portfolio incurred approximately $14.5 billion in unrealized losses. The approximately 20% pullback in the Bitcoin price caused it to fall below the average cost. Nevertheless, the company's continued purchases indicate that its long-term outlook is maintained. Strategy also announced that it has achieved a 5.6% "BTC Yield" since the beginning of 2026. This metric stands out as one of the key indicators measuring the company's Bitcoin performance per share.The company's purchasing pace has also outpaced the new supply in the market. While global miners produced approximately 16,200 BTC in March 2026, Strategy purchased over 46,000 Bitcoin during the same period. This situation brings the discussions about the supply-demand balance in the market back to the forefront.It is stated that Strategy's current funding capacity is over $57 billion. This indicates that similar large-scale purchases may continue in the coming period. Analysts estimate that if the current pace is maintained, the company could reach the 1 million BTC threshold towards the end of 2026.Bitmine also purchased ETHOn the other hand, a similar accumulation is also noticeable on the Ethereum side. With its latest purchase, Bitmine added another 71,524 ETH to its portfolio. Thus, the company's total Ethereum holdings reached 4,874,858 ETH. The average cost is stated as $2,206, which represents approximately 4.04% of the Ethereum supply.
While institutional purchases continue unabated in the crypto market, noteworthy developments are taking place in both Bitcoin and Ethereum. Strategy, led by Michael Saylor, and Bitmine, an Ethereum-focused asset manager, further strengthened their market positions with large purchases in the past week. However, losses on the balance sheet and macroeconomic uncertainties add a different dimension to the picture. Strategy is losing money but continues to buyMichael Saylor's company, Strategy, purchased an additional 4,871 BTC for approximately $330 million in the first week of April. With this latest move, the company's total Bitcoin holdings reached 766,970 BTC. This portfolio, worth approximately $53 billion at current prices, continues to make the company one of the largest institutional Bitcoin investors by far. However, the company's balance sheet also reveals the short-term risks of this aggressive buying strategy. Strategy reported an unrealized loss of $14.46 billion on Bitcoin assets in the first quarter of 2026. This loss was also detailed in the 8-K report submitted to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). On the other hand, this decline in value also created a significant tax advantage for the company. Thanks to these losses, Strategy obtained $2.42 billion in deferred tax assets. This has the potential to reduce the company's future tax burden.With the recent purchases, the company's average Bitcoin cost also slightly decreased to $75,644. This shows that Strategy continues to optimize its cost basis despite price fluctuations. It is stated that the purchases were financed through the company's "at-the-money" (ATM) share sale program.Strategy's long-term plan is also quite ambitious. Under its strategy called "42/42," the company aims to raise a total of $84 billion in capital by 2027. A large part of this resource is planned to be used for new Bitcoin purchases. In addition, the company added a US dollar reserve to its balance sheet last year, creating a more flexible structure in terms of dividend payments and liquidity management. Bitmine is aggressively growing on EthereumWhile these developments are taking place on the Bitcoin front, a similar institutional accumulation process is also noticeable on the Ethereum side. Bitmine Immersion Technologies purchased 71,252 ETH in the week ending April 5th, bringing its total holdings to 4.803 million ETH. This amount corresponds to approximately 3.98% of the total circulating ETH supply.The company's current Ethereum holdings are worth approximately $10.3 billion. Bitmine had previously stated that it aimed to reach 5% of the circulating ETH supply. With the recent purchases, it appears that this goal has been significantly approached.The company's Chairman, Tom Lee, emphasized that Ethereum is performing strongly in the current market conditions. According to Lee, ETH is one of the best-performing assets despite the geopolitical tensions that have continued for the past six weeks. Especially in a period when the conflict stemming from Iran is putting pressure on global markets, Ethereum's positive divergence is noteworthy.Bitmine also holds a strong position in the staking sector. The company's total staked ETH has reached 3.33 million, representing approximately $7.1 billion, making Bitmine one of the world's largest institutional ETH staking companies.
The Ethereum Foundation has surpassed a significant milestone in its previously announced staking plan. With the latest transactions, the foundation has almost reached its target of approximately 70,000 ETH, staking a total of approximately $143 million worth of ETH.In the latest transactions on Thursday, approximately $93 million worth of ETH was staked in multiple transactions. According to on-chain data, these transfers were sent from the foundation's multisig treasury to the Eth2 Beacon Chain contract. This final addition of 45,034 ETH was divided into equal parts of approximately 2,047 ETH each. This brings the foundation's total staked holdings to approximately 69,500 ETH. Following the plan announced in February, the foundation has been progressing gradually, initially staking 2,016 ETH, and then adding approximately 20,470 ETH earlier in the week. With this latest transaction, the target level has been almost reached in a single go. As is known, the Ethereum Foundation's operations have been criticized for some time. This is because its sales-based financing model sometimes created panic in the market. In previous years, the foundation regularly sold ETH to cover its operational expenses, and this approach was criticized for putting pressure on the market. In the new model, instead of selling assets, the goal is to generate income through staking.What will the return be?Based on current staking rates, the foundation is expected to generate approximately $3.9 million to $5.4 million in annual returns from this position. Considering that institutional staking returns range from 2.7% to 3.8%, this income, while not covering the entirety of the foundation's approximately $100 million annual expenses, provides a significant contribution. Furthermore, it is stated that this return could be further increased with additional mechanisms such as MEV-boost.The most important advantage of this model for the foundation is that the assets do not remain "idle." Staking contributes to network security and generates passive income. This means more sustainable treasury management in the long term. At the same time, it becomes possible to finance operations without creating selling pressure on the market.However, the staking program is not yet finalized. The foundation still holds more than 100,000 ETH that has not been staked. There has been no clear statement on whether these assets will be staked in the future or held as liquid reserves. This indicates that the foundation wants to maintain its flexibility.According to on-chain data, the foundation's total portfolio size is approximately $270 million. The majority of this portfolio consists of approximately 102,400 ETH, while smaller amounts of USDC, BNB, and a limited amount of Bitcoin are also included.The Ethereum price was trading at approximately $2,059 during the period when staking operations took place. With a pullback of approximately 4% in the last week, ETH continues its volatile course with macroeconomic market conditions and weakness in general risk appetite.
