Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has highlighted a suspected security breach involving Polymarket, the world’s largest decentralized prediction market platform.
Over $520,000 was reportedly drained from two smart contracts on the Polygon blockchain, according to on-chain data shared by ZachXBT. The affected addresses are 0x871D7c0f9E19001fC01E04e6cdFa7fA20f929082 and 0x91430CaD2d3975766499717fA0D66A78D814E5c5, with funds allegedly sent to attacker address 0x8F98075db5d6C620e8D420A8c516E2F2059d9B91.
Polymarket developers said the company is aware of reports tied to its rewards payout system in a post on X. The team emphasized that user funds and market resolutions remain safe, describing the issue as a private key compromise of an internal operations wallet rather than a broader smart contract exploit or core infrastructure breach. Further updates are expected.
Polygon Labs’ CTO Mudit Gupta also commented on the incident, stating: “Polymarket contracts are safe. User funds are safe. Looks like their market initializer was compromised. No impact to the users or the contracts.”
Polymarket has not yet issued an official statement from its main X account. CoinDesk has reached out to the company for additional comment. The incident comes amid heightened scrutiny of decentralized finance platforms.
Layer-1 blockchain Near’s forthcoming upgrade will allow the network to scale dynamically without human intervention.
The market is giving it a thumbs-up, sending the native token’s price sharply higher. NEAR has gained more than 27% in the last 24 hours to trade at $2.25.
“Dynamic resharding is coming to NEAR. The upcoming network upgrade will enable the protocol to add shards automatically as demand grows,” the protocol announced on X. “This delivers on NEAR’s founding vision of building the world’s most scalable blockchain protocol at the highest level of performance.”
Shards are smaller, independent partitions of the blockchain network that process transactions and smart contracts in parallel. Imagine a grocery store with multiple checkout lines. This helps Near handle more traffic than typical blockchains with a single checkout line.
The catch? Until now, opening a new partition on Near has been a slow, manual process, requiring weeks of validator coordination, a vote, and a staged rollout.
The upcoming dynamic resharding in June will automate this process. In other words, when the network sees a specific check out line, a shard, getting too full, it doesn’t wait for a human to fix it. It automatically splits, not in half, but by adding more independent parallel validators to the system, just as the grocery store would hire new cashiers and customer staff.
“Adding shards has required a full protocol upgrade: weeks of validator coordination, a vote, a staged rollout. Dynamic resharding makes it automatic: a shard hits a state size threshold, splits deterministically, and is validated by state witnesses with no human intervention,” Near said in an explainer.
The new feature is particularly foundational to an AI-led onchain economy, where bots are doing business with each other, it explained.
Quantum-proof
Scaling isn’t the only thing changing with the impending upgrade. Near is also adding “post-quantum-safe signing.”
Quantum fears have gripped the developer community ever since Google researchers warned that a sufficiently powerful quantum computer might be able to crack today’s blockchains with significantly less firepower than initially expected.
Near, therefore, is installing new locks so that years from now, those super quantum machines won’t be able to touch funds of Near users.
Native token NEAR is the best-performing cryptocurrency among the top 100 coins by market cap over the past 24 hours thanks to the rally. Bitcoin BTC$77,341.59 has dropped 0.4% to $77,360.
NEAR’s external performance is supported by strong demand for the Bitwise Near Staking ETF (exchange-traded product) listed in Europe. This week, the ETP has pulled in $7 million in investor money, according to data shared by Bitwise’s CEO Hunter Horsley.
According to Hyland, BTC/USD has been in a fresh uptrend since the last week of February. At the start of the month, the pair briefly fell below $60,000, hitting its lowest levels since late 2024.
Since then, relief has taken over, with Bitcoin reaching local highs near $83,000 exactly three months after the February bottom, data from TradingView confirms.
“There has NEVER been a rally that trended upward for 89 days ever in a bear market in BTC history,” he continued.
“The break of high time frame resistance also has marked the start of a bull market rally the prior three times.”
BTC/USD one-week chart. Source: Matthew Hyland/X
An accompanying chart shows that resistance was cleared when the price first broke above and held $77,000.
“Both of these characteristics are characteristics of a bull market rally NOT a bear market rally,” Hyland reiterated.
Analyst: BTC price needs $88,000 rebound
On the topic of bear market expirations, independent analyst Filbfilb demands a higher resistance reclaim for confirmation that bulls are back in control.
Related: Bitcoin due ‘5%+’ move as analysis stays bullish on BTC price outlook
Bitcoin’s weekly supertrend, currently near $90,000, is the line in the sand to watch.
“The last 2 BTC bear markets ended with a >+20% weekly candle and a break of the weekly super trend – presently around $ 88k,” he told X followers.
“If the bearish move we see in play at the moment fails, I’m expecting one of those candles to happen rather than much messing about around these levels.”
BTC/USD one-week chart with supertrend data. Source: Cointelegraph/TradingView
The super trend is calculated using the average true range of price, coupled with a multiplier. BTC/USD last had a weekly close above the supertrend line in early November 2025.
The chance of Bitcoin (BTC) falling below $60,000 is “extremely slim,” according to data showing that BTC long-term holders increased their holdings to 71.6% of the total supply. In addition to this data, a key technical signal turned bullish for the first time since February.
BTC price may avoid fresh new lows, says analyst
Crypto analyst Sykodelic said the possibility of Bitcoin revisiting fresh lows has “become extremely slim” after the weekly relative strength index (RS) retested the 50 level. Historically, Bitcoin has entered long-term expansion phases after the RSI recovered above that threshold following an oversold position.
BTC/USD, one-week chart, and RSI analysis. Source: Skykodelic/X
The latest move came 105 days after Bitcoin’s weekly RSI entered oversold territory for only the fourth time on record. Skykodelic noted that the 2022 cycle was the lone exception in which Bitcoin later formed new lows, largely due to the FTX exchange collapse, and forced a market-wide drawdown. In that period, the RSI never retested 50 during the recovery attempt.
BTC long-term holders (LTHs) are also leaning in the same direction. Crypto analyst CryptoZeno said Bitcoin’s one-year-plus holder metric has returned to the historical “oversold” accumulation zone that preceded major upside cycles in 2013, 2016, 2019 and late 2022.
BTC long-term holders (1+ year) metric. Source: X
CryptoZeno said earlier that market cycle highs in 2021 and 2017 usually formed when LTH holder distribution accelerated. The current readings instead point to a steady accumulation and a tighter available supply of BTC.
Onchain data supports that trend. Long-term Bitcoin supply climbed back above 15.04 million BTC for the first time since Oct. 1, 2025, accounting for 71.6% of the circulating supply.
BTC long-term holder flow. Source: CryptoQuant
Related: Key Bitcoin price metric used by bulls falls to 6-week low, with silver lining
BTC miners are cautious amid bottom formation
Crypto analyst Pelin Ay said BTC miner activity still points to cautious positioning despite the strong LTH holder data. Binance pool miner reserves dropped to 41,915 from 41,987 in May, indicating a steady supply entering Binance. Speaking on the importance of Binance pool miner reserve data, Ay said,
“Since Binance Pool represents a major share of the global hash rate, its behavior often reflects overall miner psychology before the broader market reacts. Falling reserves usually indicate that operational selling pressure is still continuing.”
BTC Puell Multiple and Binance pool miner reserve. Source: CryptoQuant
Miner Position Index (MPI) readings remain below historical panic-selling levels, while the Puell Multiple stays under 1, signaling continued revenue pressure across mining operations. The analyst described the behavior as a “wait phase” often seen near bottom formations.
Related: Bitcoin due ‘5%+’ move as analysis stays bullish on BTC price outlook
The former chief risk officer of Silvergate revealed she made the decision to settle with the US securities regulator in 2024 to avoid a “multi-year battle” in court, where she was accused of misleading investors about anti-money laundering rules and how the bank monitored crypto customers.
In her first public comments about her settlement with the SEC on Wednesday, Kate Fraher claimed that no financial agency proved that Silvergate’s anti-money laundering controls had failed, and that she only opted to settle to “move forward.”
Fraher had agreed to a civil penalty of $250,000 and was banned from serving as a company executive or board director for five years.
“The process itself is designed to apply maximum pressure, and the human costs are real. I was personally de-banked and had credit lines summarily closed—an aggressive tactic used to disrupt daily life and force compliance,” she said.
The comments provide more insight into the circumstances surrounding the wind-down of Silvergate, a crypto-friendly bank that voluntarily closed following the collapse of FTX. Fraher said her ability to comment came after the SEC rescinded the long-standing “gag rule” on Monday.
Source: Kate Fraher
Fraher said the wind-down was not because of a “bank run” or market volatility from FTX’s collapse in November 2022, even as the bank experienced a deposit run of around 70%.
Instead, Fraher said the company chose to wind down because the “broader administrative and regulatory pressure levied against the digital asset industry made operating a viable business impossible.”
Many crypto industry pundits labeled this as “Operation Chokepoint 2.0,” an unconfirmed plan in which US financial regulators cut off banking services to crypto companies in an attempt to restrict their ability to operate within the broader financial system.
Silvergate wasn’t the only crypto-friendly bank affected by the strict measures, which intensified following the collapse of FTX in November 2022.
Signature Bank and Silicon Valley Bank also shut down in early 2023, in part due to deposit runs, liquidity stress and contagion effects tied to FTX and several crypto lending platforms that went bankrupt in 2022.
Related: Trump-backed Truth Social pulls bids for crypto ETFs
But Fraher said by the beginning of 2023, it had weathered the FTX collapse by restructuring the business with “appropriate capital levels” and a “right-sized workforce” to continue operations safely.
Gag policy was unconstitutional, Fraher argues
Fraher applauded the current Paul Atkins-led SEC leadership for ending the gag rule, which she described as an “unconstitutional policy.”
“I am glad the right to speak the truth has finally been restored,” Fraher said, adding: “We must continue to talk about the long-term professional and personal toll exacted on individuals by regulation through enforcement.”
Magazine: 5 tech predictions the mainstream media got horribly wrong
European banks are rapidly moving stablecoin projects from concept to production, with EUR stablecoins processed at retail VASPs growing 12-fold to $777 million in 15 months.
EUR-denominated stablecoins processed at retail virtual asset service providers (VASPs) have grown 12-fold over 15 months to reach $777 million in transaction volume, according to Fireblocks’ State of Stablecoins 2025 report. European banks and fintechs are accelerating production deployments of Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA)-compliant stablecoins following the EU’s regulatory framework implementation.
Banking Circle and SG-Forge have emerged as first movers in the MiCA-compliant stablecoin space. Banking Circle launched EURI, a euro-backed digital asset, while SG-Forge brought EURCV to market. Both issuers are now scaling production operations as regulatory clarity under MiCA has enabled institutional adoption.
The growth reflects a broader shift in European digital asset infrastructure. Banks are moving beyond pilot projects and early-stage concepts to build production systems for tokenized assets and stablecoin rails. The $777 million figure remains early-stage in absolute terms but demonstrates sustained institutional momentum in regulated euro stablecoin issuance.
Fireblocks’ research indicates that European banks are treating stablecoins and tokenized asset infrastructure as critical components of their 2026 roadmaps. MiCA compliance has reduced regulatory uncertainty and accelerated deployment timelines compared to previous years when the regulatory framework was still in development.
Top traders boosted their Bitcoin long-to-short ratios, strengthening the $76,000 support floor.
Macroeconomic pressures and persistent Bitcoin ETF outflows are capping immediate Bitcoin breakout potential to $82,000.
Bitcoin (BTC) flirted with $78,000 on Thursday but failed to sustain its bullish momentum after a disappointing outlook from US retailer Walmart and growing signs of a more restrictive US monetary policy. Despite weakening macroeconomic conditions, professional Bitcoin traders increased their bullish exposure. Is a rally to $82,000 the next step?
Top traders’ Bitcoin long-to-short position at Binance & OKX. Source: CoinGlass
Top traders’ long-to-short ratio jumped to its highest level in 2 weeks, indicating growing confidence in the $76,000 support level. At Binance, the ratio remained near 8% favoring longs (buy) for three days, while traders at OKX reduced their shorts (sell) between Wednesday and Thursday. Still, in absolute terms, the long-to-short indicator remains neutral.
Worsening economy and high oil prices prompt US rate hike fears
Part of this lack of confidence can be pinned to worsening economic growth perspectives. Walmart (WMT US) saw its shares decline 7% after issuing weak 2027 guidance due to persistently high oil prices. Walmart CFO John Furner said low-income consumers are “navigating financial distress.” The company acts as a proxy for US retail data due to its massive $178 billion quarterly sales.
The prolonged war in Iran and the subsequent partial closure of the Strait of Hormuz have kept crude Brent oil prices sustained above $95 for the past month. The US Federal Reserve (Fed) has less room to maneuver due to this upward inflationary pressure. Traders are now anticipating interest rate hikes, marking a complete turnaround from the previous month’s expectations.
FOMC interest rate target probabilities for Sept. 2026. Source: CME Group FedWatch Tool
The implied odds of interest rate hikes by September, based on government bond futures markets, have jumped to 37%, up from 0% one month prior. Thus, regardless of the strength of the S&P 500 Index, investors anticipate accelerated growth in the monetary base, as higher interest rates negatively affect the $39 trillion US government debt.
Bitcoin/USD at Coinbase vs. Bitcoin/USDT at major exchanges. Source: TradingView / Cointelegraph
The Bitcoin price at Coinbase traded at a 0.10% discount relative to Bitcoin prices at major exchanges quoted in USDT. This negative Coinbase Bitcoin premium is typically associated with weak institutional demand, which aligns with the $2.07 billion net outflows from US-listed Bitcoin spot exchange-traded funds (ETFs) since May 12.
Related: Chance of new Bitcoin lows ‘extremely slim’ as long-term holders’ supply tops 15M BTC
The Bitcoin perpetual futures funding rate has maintained neutral levels since Monday, reversing the trend from the prior week. The current 7% rate is far from being bullish, but it marks a complete turnaround from May 14 when shorts (sellers) paid 13% to keep their positions open.
Given the uncertain perspectives for global economies, the odds of a sustained Bitcoin bull run to $82,000 in the near term appear low. Still, the reduction in top traders’ short positions and a balanced perpetual futures funding rate indicate that bulls are gradually building confidence in the $76,000 support level.
Bitcoin BTC$77,640.65 traded near $77,733 by midday Hong Kong time, according to CoinDesk data, little changed over the past 24 hours, after sliding as low as $76,685 and failing to hold above $78,000 during U.S. trading hours.
Derivatives positioning suggested the recent selloff may have been more of a leverage flush than the start of a broader market breakdown. Open interest, a measure of outstanding leveraged futures positions, held relatively steady while funding rates stayed low or negative, a sign that traders were not aggressively piling into bullish bets before the drop.
“There was no massive accumulation of leveraged longs prior to this, meaning most of those liquidated in this drop were leveraged funds attempting short-term bottom-fishing. Second, this signals that we are not in the middle of a structural trend reversal downward. The temporary bottom of $75,000–$77,000 remains well-defined,” Tim Sun, senior researcher at HashKey Group, told CoinDesk
The bigger problem, he said, is macro: investors are de-risking as long-term yields rise, oil and inflation risks remain in focus, and there is “currently no compelling reason for new capital to enter the market.”
CoinGlass data showed $200 million in crypto liquidations over the past 24 hours, split almost evenly between long and short positions, suggesting the move was less a one-sided capitulation than a volatile market whipping both directions.
Sun pointed to the U.S. 30-year Treasury yield, which recently pushed above 5%, as the more important pressure point. Higher long-term yields tend to weigh on speculative assets by raising the opportunity cost of holding non-yielding assets like bitcoin while tightening broader financial conditions.
The next catalyst may come from geopolitics.
Sun said a meaningful de-escalation in U.S.-Iran tensions could cool oil prices and inflation expectations, easing pressure on yields and giving bitcoin room to rebound.
But if yields remain elevated and geopolitical risks persist, bitcoin may stay stuck in what he described as a defensive, range-bound market, with the $75,000 to $77,000 zone serving as the key near-term support level.
The US Federal Reserve proposed creating limited payment accounts that could give legally eligible fintech and crypto-linked banks narrower access to its payment rails without the backstops available to traditional banks.
The proposal was released on Wednesday through a Federal Reserve Board request for comment and notice of proposed rulemaking, referring to “skinny master accounts” for nonbank financial institutions.
The Fed also encouraged regional Reserve Banks to pause decisions on Tier 3 account-access requests while it finishes the rulemaking, a step staff said is expected to end by Dec. 31, 2026.
Source: Eleanor Terrett
“The temporary pause will allow the Federal Reserve to solicit and consider public input on payment accounts and to promote consistent implementation,” the announcement said.
The move highlights ongoing regulatory tension over crypto access to US payment systems following President Donald Trump’s executive order calling for broader fintech and digital asset integration, while the Fed maintains a more cautious approach.
Tier 3 pause expected to end by Dec. 31
The Fed expects its temporary pause on Tier 3 master account applications to end on or before Dec. 31, according to a Board memo.
The memo also provided a list of “pending account requests” from Tier 3 institutions as of Feb. 28, 2026. The list included companies such as Kraken Financial, the banking arm of cryptocurrency exchange Kraken.
Kraken was later granted a limited-purpose master account by the US Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City in early March 2026. The bank approved the access specifically under a Tier 3 classification.
Trump order and limits on direct Fed access by crypto
The crypto industry has long pursued access to Fed master accounts as a way to connect more directly to the US payment system.
The latest proposal does not give crypto exchanges direct access, even though there is broader political support for expanding fintech and digital asset access to the financial system.
Related: About 10% of Americans used crypto in 2025, highest level since 2022: Fed
Even as Trump’s executive order signaled support for wider fintech and digital asset integration, direct access to master accounts would still be unavailable to crypto exchanges. Instead, firms would need to operate through an affiliate that qualifies as an eligible depository institution under the Federal Reserve Act, according to Eleanor Terrett.
Source: Eleanor Terrett
The concept of “skinny” payment accounts was first introduced in October by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller and was further developed through policy discussions in early 2026.
Unlike master accounts, the proposed payment accounts would be limited to clearing and settlement only. They would not earn interest or provide access to central banking tools such as the discount window or intraday credit.
Magazine: How crypto laws changed in 2025 — and how they’ll change in 2026
A liquidity imbalance in Bitcoin (BTC) is building near $80,000, with more than $4 billion in short positions vulnerable to liquidation above that level. The setup strengthened after Bitcoin defended support near $76,100 for two days and formed bullish signals on the lower time frames.
BTC short liquidations stack above $80,000
On the one-hour chart, Bitcoin formed a bullish divergence between the price and the relative strength index (RSI), with improving momentum and higher lows near $76,100, suggesting underlying buying strength. BTC also retested $78,000 on Thursday after defending the $76,100 support level multiple times this week.
The price action is also shaping an inverse head-and-shoulders setup beneath a descending trendline, a structure that often signals weakening bearish pressure before a breakout. A move above $78,000 could expose the fair-value gap (FVG) between $79,500 and $80,300, a low-liquidity price zone created during a sharp prior selloff that BTC price could revisit to fill the untraded range before continuing its next move.
CoinGlass liquidation data show that the largest concentration of leveraged risk is above current price levels. A move toward $80,000 would expose more than $4 billion in cumulative short positions. By comparison, a decline toward $75,000 would expose roughly $3 billion in long liquidations.
This indicates that short sellers face greater pressure than bullish positions if BTC continues to climb.
BTC liquidation map. Source: CoinGlass
Related: Bitcoin accumulation trends weaken as realized losses jump to $600M
Bitcoin futures activity overshadows spot
BTC liquidation activity has already accelerated over the past 24 hours. CoinGlass data recorded 103,963 liquidated traders, with total liquidations reaching $286.08 million. Short positions accounted for nearly $175 million of the total, while the largest single liquidation hit Binance’s BTCUSDT pair at $3.04 million.
Open interest in Bitcoin term. Source: CryptoQuant
CryptoQuant data showed Bitcoin-denominated open interest near 116,800 BTC, down from 120,000 BTC a day earlier. The lower open interest indicates traders closed part of their leveraged exposure during recent volatility. That usually points to more controlled derivatives activity rather than overheated speculation.
Spot market participation stayed weak during Bitcoin’s recovery toward $78,000. The aggregated spot cumulative volume delta (CVD), which tracks net buying and selling pressure, stood at -$483 million. The futures CVD turned slightly positive around $34 million, while funding rates remained elevated, indicating a bullish skew in the short term.
The split between weak spot demand and marginally strong futures activity shows leveraged traders are driving the recent upside. The liquidity concentration above $80,000 now stands as the clearest near-term retest level.
Related: SpaceX reveals larger-than-expected Bitcoin holdings in IPO filing
