Crypto news

Last night on the crypto market was packed with institutional events. While bitcoin stabilized in a narrow range, major players made moves that could reshape the industry's balance of power for years to come. From a multi-billion-dollar partnership between an AI developer and a miner to lowering the entry threshold for the largest bitcoin ETF — we break down the key events.

Market in a sideways trend, but focus on institutions

By 08:40 Moscow time, bitcoin was trading near the $63,980 mark. During the night on the 15-minute chart, quotes made brief fluctuations, dipping to $63,800 and rising to $64,100, before returning to the psychologically important level of $64,000. Ether (ETH) showed similar dynamics, holding in the range of $1868–$1880 after a recent drop from $1928.

Altcoins in the top 10 showed minimal volatility. The leader in gains was Hyperliquid (HYPE) with an increase of 2.12%, followed by Solana (SOL) at +1.04%. BNB, on the other hand, corrected by 0.52%. Among the top 100 assets, Curve DAO Token (CRV) stood out, rising by 10.8%. Among the laggards was Audiera (BEAT) with a collapse of 51.2%.

Flows into spot ETFs remain mixed. Bitcoin funds recorded an outflow of $144.67 million, while Ethereum products lost $14.59 million. At the same time, investors continued to increase positions in Solana (+$8.83 million) and HYPE (+$2.74 million). Over the past day, positions worth $201.08 million were liquidated among 68,722 traders. The largest single liquidation order was for a BRENTOIL oil contract on Hyperliquid — $10.55 million.

AI and mining: a marriage of convenience

The key event of the night was a deal between AI developer Anthropic and bitcoin miner Riot Platforms worth $9.1 billion over a 20-year term. Under the agreement, Anthropic will receive 191 MW of computing capacity at Riot's facility in Rockdale, Texas. Full deployment of the capacity is scheduled for June 2028. Two five-year renewal options could increase the total contract value to $16.1 billion.

This deal clearly demonstrates how AI developers are rushing to secure energy and computing infrastructure. For miners, this is not just diversification — it is a strategic transformation of the business amid growing demand for high-performance computing.

Hayes on saving the yen and the new era of IBIT

BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes presented his scenario for yen strengthening, which could turn out to be bullish for the crypto market. In his view, Japan will not take the path of sharp rate hikes or selling off U.S. Treasuries. Instead, Tokyo could use the Fed's FIMA repo facility, pledging U.S. Treasury bonds in exchange for dollars, then selling them to buy yen. If the $60 billion counterparty limit is raised, the Fed's balance sheet would grow, and the resulting dollar liquidity would become a positive factor for bitcoin, gold, and Ethereum.

Meanwhile, BlackRock lowered the minimum threshold for in-kind transactions in its bitcoin ETF from $25 million to $1 million. Now an investor with $1 million in bitcoin will be able to conduct exchanges through authorized participants and receive shares of the IBIT fund. Separately, manager Robert Mitchnick announced the BITA fund, aimed at investors seeking to earn returns of 15–19% in exchange for lower volatility and limited upside potential for bitcoin.

Lowering the entry threshold for IBIT is a powerful signal. BlackRock is clearly seeking to democratize access to the instrument, which could ultimately lead to increased capital inflows into the ETF and, consequently, to a rise in institutional demand for bitcoin.

My view: last night's events confirm that the crypto market is becoming increasingly integrated into traditional finance. The Anthropic and Riot deal is not a one-off story but the beginning of a trend toward a symbiosis of AI and mining. And lowering the entry threshold for IBIT could become a catalyst for a new wave of institutional adoption of bitcoin.