While the market consolidated in a narrow range, key events unfolded around fundamental issues of security and regulation. Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin engaged in a long-distance polemic with pessimistic forecasts about Bitcoin's future, while U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis outlined an alarming timeline for crypto legislation. Meanwhile, users of the WOO X exchange reported issues with withdrawals for the third consecutive day.
Market: Bitcoin and altcoins in a sideways trend
At the time of analysis, around 08:20 Moscow time, Bitcoin (BTC) was trading near the $79,802 mark. Over the day, the price fluctuated in the range of $79,300 – $80,500, showing virtually zero momentum. Ether (ETH) posted a slight gain of 0.18%, settling at $2,506, with a daily range of $2,465 – $2,530.
Among the top-25 altcoins, Uniswap (UNI) stood out with a gain of 10.48%, Chainlink (LINK) — 6.06%, and Zcash (ZEC) — 5.55%. The laggards were Monero (XMR), which lost 3.95%, and BNB, which declined by 1.86%. Over the week, the best result was posted by Pons (PONS) with a gain of 125.89%, followed by Arbitrum (ARB) and Dash (DASH), which added 102.64% and 70.01%, respectively. The worst performance came from Canton (CC), which fell by 6.81%.
Flows into spot crypto ETFs remain positive. Over the past week, Bitcoin funds attracted $986.85 million, and Ether funds — $218.41 million. A small outflow was recorded only for Dogecoin products — about $343,580. The Fear and Greed Index fell to 71 points but is still in the "greed" zone. Over the day, positions worth $206.55 million were liquidated: $114.12 million came from shorts and $92.43 million from longs.
Overnight events: Buterin, Lummis, and WOO X issues
Vitalik Buterin stated that he views the long-term outlook for cybersecurity with optimism. In his assessment, Bitcoin handles tasks that do not require social consensus excellently. He believes that attacks at the network level can be repelled through updates to clients and mining pools, and the likelihood of breaking hash functions or the Proof-of-Work mechanism itself is extremely low. Thus, Buterin categorically disagrees with the thesis about a possible drop of BTC by more than 50% within two years due to threats that AI poses to its security.
Senator Cynthia Lummis warned that if the CLARITY bill is not passed in the current Congress, the next real opportunity to advance a market structure law will not come until 2030. According to her, passing the document now would allow the country to retain jobs, investments, and tax revenues that could otherwise be lost for decades.
The situation around WOO X deserves special attention. Blockchain researcher ZachXBT reported that several verified exchange users have encountered stuck withdrawals. Requests remain in a pending or processing status, and some traders report delays of several days. The exchange itself has not yet publicly responded to the complaints. Notably, in late 2025, WOO X acquired FusionX Digital, which ZachXBT links to BitMart founder Sheldon Xia. BitMart itself began the planned closure of its trading platform in July and is now exploring restructuring options.
My comment: The situation with WOO X is an alarming signal that investors should take seriously. Transparency and withdrawal speed are the basic criteria of trust in any centralized platform, and any delays here require immediate public clarification; otherwise, reputational risks could prove more fatal than any market fluctuations.