Nightly crypto market news: Anthropic and Riot's $9.1 billion deal, Hayes' forecast on the yen, and new BlackRock rules
While most market participants were resting, the crypto industry continued to develop actively. Several significant events occurred overnight and in the early morning that could determine the direction of price movement in the medium term. I have analyzed the key news and am ready to share my conclusions.
Market in numbers: consolidation before a breakout?
Bitcoin (BTC) was trading around $63,980 at the time of writing this review. During the night hours, the 15-minute chart showed classic consolidation: the price dropped to $63,800, then rose to $64,100, after which it stabilized near the $64,000 mark. Ethereum (ETH) held near $1,874, fluctuating in a narrow range of $1,868–$1,880 after a recent pullback from $1,928.
Altcoins from the top 10 showed low volatility. The growth leaders were Hyperliquid (HYPE) with a gain of 2.12% and Solana (SOL) with +1.04%, while BNB corrected by 0.52%. Among the top 100 assets, Curve DAO Token (CRV) stood out, rising by 10.8%, as well as Internet Computer (ICP) and Lighter (LIT) with gains of 7.84% and 6.62%, respectively. The day's laggard was the Audiera (BEAT) token, which collapsed by 51.2%.
ETF data shows a mixed picture: bitcoin funds lost $144.67 million, Ethereum funds lost $14.59 million, while Solana products attracted $8.83 million and HYPE products $2.74 million. Over the past 24 hours, positions worth $201.08 million were liquidated across 68,722 traders, with the largest order of $10.55 million hitting a BRENTOIL oil contract on Hyperliquid.
Key events of the night
The biggest news is the strategic partnership between AI developer Anthropic and bitcoin miner Riot Platforms. The deal amount was $9.1 billion over a 20-year term. 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, and two five-year extension options could increase the total contract value to approximately $16.1 billion. This is a clear signal that AI companies are actively competing for infrastructure, which indirectly confirms long-term demand for energy and cooling—factors that are also important for mining.
BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes presented his scenario for yen strengthening, which he considers bullish for the crypto market. In his view, Japan will not sharply raise rates or sell off US Treasury bonds, but will instead utilize the FIMA repo facility. If the $60 billion counterparty limit is raised, the Fed's balance sheet will expand, given that the Japanese government and the GPIF fund hold about $1.37 trillion of such bonds. The resulting dollar liquidity, Hayes believes, is positive for bitcoin, gold, and Ethereum.
Finally, BlackRock lowered the minimum threshold for exchanges in its bitcoin ETF. In-kind transactions are now available to investors with assets from $1 million instead of the previous $25 million. This significantly simplifies entry for mid-sized players and increases the flexibility of the IBIT fund. Additionally, manager Robert Mitchnick announced the BITA fund, targeting returns of 15–19% with lower volatility and limited bitcoin upside potential.
My comment: The Anthropic and Riot deal is confirmation that infrastructure assets are becoming a strategic resource. BlackRock's lowering of the threshold is a clear step toward greater institutional liquidity. However, the market is still consolidating, and without a clear catalyst, a breakout above $64,000 could take time. I advise closely monitoring the reaction to the yen and the Fed's actions—these factors could be the trigger for the next move.