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Freezing dormant BTC would trigger worst single day repricing in bitcoin’s history, says maximalist

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Freezing dormant BTC would trigger worst single day repricing in bitcoin’s history, says maximalist

Freezing dormant bitcoin BTC$78,087.62 would trigger an immediate repricing and mark one of the world’s oldest cryptocurrency’s worst trading days since its 2009 launch, advocates told CoinDesk.

Bitcoin developers and crypto industry participants have debated for weeks whether they should freeze dormant tokens to protect them against the risk of theft through quantum computing, whenever those machines begin going online.

“Freezing any coins, even ‘lost’ ones, tells the market that all (roughly) 19.8 million BTC currently in circulation are conditionally owned,” said Samuel “Chad” Patt, who is also the founder of Op Net. “Institutional risk desks do not care about the reason, they care about the precedent.”

Read more: A simple explainer on what quantum computing actually is, and why it is terrifying for bitcoin

Although Jason Fernandes, a market analyst who describes himself as a pragmatic maximalist, said he agrees with Patt’s repricing thesis, he said he believes that a successful quantum attack would trigger a far more severe repricing.

“Institutions won’t just price precedent, they’ll price whether the system can survive a break in its core assumptions,” added Fernandes, also the co-founder at AdLunam.

Mati Greenspan, also a self-described maximalist and a market analyst, said that if “quantum computers ever crack early Bitcoin wallets, it won’t trigger a rollback or a freeze; it will trigger the largest bug bounty in human history.”

The debate follows weeks of discussion over how to respond to the potential threat quantum computing poses to the bitcoin network, particularly the estimated 5.6 million BTC. These tokens are held in wallets that have been dormant for more than a decade, in addresses that have not been upgraded and, therefore, are the most vulnerable in the event that quantum computing attacks become a reality.

A week ago, Jameson Lopp, a core Bitcoin developer and research analyst, told CoinDesk he would prefer to see the dormant bitcoin, worth roughly $440 billion, frozen by the network than left at risk of being stolen by future quantum hackers. He said he already sees those bitcoin as being lost.

Lopp and a team of other core bitcoin developers released Bitcoin Improvement Proposal 361 (BIP-361) earlier this month. The proposal contemplates phasing out bitcoin’s current cryptographic signatures, potentially freezing assets that fail to migrate.

‘Instant’ repricing

If that were to proceed, Patt said, “bitcoin’s repricing would be instant, not gradual and would be the worst single day in bitcoin’s history, but not because of a hack, but because the network will have proven its core value proposition is negotiable.”

The bitcoin maximalist said all fund managers, “who allocated on the censorship-resistance thesis, would be forced to unwind. Not by choice, but by mandate, because the asset no longer fits the risk profile it was purchased under.”

Read more: To freeze or not to freeze: Satoshi and the $440 billion in bitcoin threatened by quantum computing

Another bitcoin maximalist, Kent Halliburton, CEO and co-founder at SazMining, said he believes the intentions behind BIP-361 are good.

“However, you don’t defend Bitcoin by breaking its core promise of inviolable property rights,” he said. “We operate data centers on four continents, and our clients own every machine. That model only works because Bitcoin guarantees unconditional ownership.”

Halliburton said he believes, as many others do, that the quantum computing threat is real, but that there are better ways to deal with the risks it poses, such as better tooling and voluntary migration, “but not a protocol-level confiscation dressed up as a contingency plan.”

Deeply flawed

Khushboo Khullar, venture partner at Lightning Ventures and a bitcoin maximalist as well, said freezing dormant coins is a deeply flawed approach, despite appearing to be a pragmatic approach against quantum threats.

“It directly undermines Bitcoin’s core principles of immutability, permissionlessness, and no central enforcement. Such a move would require a contentious hard fork, violating the network’s decentralized ethos where no one can unilaterally seize or freeze anyone’s coins,” she said.

However, not all maximalists agree with Patt, Halliburton or Khullar, and instead believe Lopp’s proposal is sensible.

“It’s extremely challenging to build systems that are truly future-proof, and while Bitcoin has come quite close, quantum may pose a threat that requires tradeoffs participants won’t be happy with.” said Ken Kruger, founder and CEO of Moon Technologies.

“So far there’s no solution that doesn’t include compromise: freeze funds or let them be stolen? If solved elegantly, this could be a critical moment Bitcoin proves its resilience as a global monetary system,” he said.

Bitcoin could still evolve

Fernandes said he understands Patt’s and other maximalists’ points on precedent, adding that it is a real concern among the bitcoin community when discussing the network’s censorship-resistance ethos. In fact, he added, “I don’t think there is time; I think quantum will be upon us way faster than anybody thinks.”

“However, framing this as a question of purity misses the bigger issue: quantum risk is an existential threat to the system, not a philosophical debate,” Fernandes said. He believes bitcoin could evolve as it has in the past with SegWit and Taproot, upgrades designed to improve the network’s efficiency, privacy and scalability.

“The protocol isn’t ‘finished,’ it’s just conservative in how it changes,” he said. “But the risk of inaction far outweighs any concern about precedent or philosophical purity.”

Ultimately, Fernandes believes very few people within the community care in the long run, and that the majority of bitcoin holders, whether maximalists or not, are “more interested in preserving capital rather than preserving some vague notion about what bitcoin is ‘supposed to be.’”

Greenspan echoes what many of the maximalists ultimately prefer. “As with many cases in life, and especially with bitcoin, doing nothing is better than doing something.”

He concluded: “The Bitcoin community seems to feel strongly that freezing coins would be antithetical to bitcoin’s quintessential value proposition.”

Read more: How a quantum computer can be used to actually steal your bitcoin in ‘9 minutes’

What next as Bitcoin (BTC) whales go long despite bearish bets piling up

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What next as Bitcoin (BTC) whales go long despite bearish bets piling up

The biggest traders on Hyperliquid have been building a long bitcoin BTC$78,084.27 position for two months, and the price chart is starting to break their way.

Glassnode data shows whale positioning on Hyperliquid, the onchain perpetual futures exchange, flipped from net short to net long in early March and has stayed long ever since, with the size of the long bias increasing through April.

The shift coincides with bitcoin grinding higher from the mid-$60,000s in February to a brush near $80,000 earlier this week.

Hyperliquid has, in the past year, become the onchain venue of choice for traders running large positions, and a sustained long bias from that cohort tends to lead spot bitcoin price action by days to weeks rather than follow it.

The flip to net long in early March preceded the recovery from the mid-$60,000s. The positioning is now the most aggressively long it has been across the dataset.

Bitcoin perpetual swap funding across major exchanges sits at -0.13% on a seven-day basis according to Coinglass, meaning shorts are paying longs to keep their positions open.

That negative funding has held for roughly 47 consecutive days, one of the longest stretches of bearish derivatives positioning on record. Sustained negative funding matched with aggressive long positioning from Hyperliquid whales is the technical setup that produces short squeezes when spot prices break higher.

In traditional finance, the S&P 500 closed at a record high on Friday, capping its longest weekly advance since 2024.

In Pakistan, meantime, the weekend’s talks between Iran and the U.S. didn’t take place. President Donald Trump canceled his delegation’s trip to Islamabad after the Iranian foreign minister left the country before the U.S. group even set off.

Treasury yields dropped as the Justice Department closed its probe into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, potentially clearing the path for Kevin Warsh’s confirmation as the next Fed leader.

Quite where those developments leave the Hyperliquid long positions will become apparent over the coming hours and days.

Metaplanet Raises $50M in Zero-Interest Bonds to Buy Bitcoin

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Metaplanet Raises $50M in Zero-Interest Bonds to Buy Bitcoin

Tokyo-listed Metaplanet has issued 8 billion Japanese yen ($50 million) in zero-interest bonds to EVO FUND, with the proceeds earmarked for additional Bitcoin purchases, according to a Thursday filing.

According to the filing, the 20th series of ordinary bonds matures in April 2027 and is unsecured, giving Metaplanet another source of zero-interest funding as it expands one of the largest corporate Bitcoin treasuries in the market.

EVO FUND, a Cayman-based fund at the core of Evolution Financial Group, specializes in structured financings for digital asset-focused companies and is the main subscriber to Metaplanet’s zero-interest bonds used to fund Bitcoin purchases.

Under the terms of the deal, the bonds will be redeemed at par on maturity, though EVO FUND can request early redemption with five business days’ notice. Metaplanet may also redeem part or all of the bonds if it completes future financings with the same investor.

Related: Nakamoto sells $20 million in Bitcoin and cuts Metaplanet stake

The latest raise extends a financing strategy Metaplanet has used repeatedly as it leans further into its Bitcoin treasury model, tapping capital markets rather than relying solely on operating cash flow.

Metaplanet’s share price was down around 3.69% at the time of writing, according to data from Yahoo! Finance.

Metaplanet expands Bitcoin holdings with debt-funded strategy

The latest raise follows an aggressive first quarter in which Metaplanet added 5,075 BTC, lifting its total holdings to about 40,177 BTC and cementing its position as the third-largest publicly listed Bitcoin holder.

Metaplanet Issues $50 million in 0% Ordinary Bonds to Purchase Additional $BTC. Source: Metaplanet

That expansion has made the company one of the clearer examples in Asia of a public firm using debt and equity financing to accumulate Bitcoin as a treasury asset, drawing frequent comparisons to MicroStrategy’s balance sheet strategy in the United States.

With the new issuance, Metaplanet is signaling that it intends to keep buying even after a volatile stretch for crypto markets, with BTC trading around $77,000 in recent sessions.

The company said in the filing that the bond sale is expected to have only a minimal impact on its consolidated results for fiscal 2026, and that, if “any material impact” on its financial performance or other matters arises, it will provide an update promptly.

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Coinbase’s John D’Agostino says crypto platform stands alone as industry’s full-service prime broker

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Coinbase’s John D’Agostino says crypto platform stands alone as industry’s full-service prime broker

Coinbase (COIN) has quietly crossed a threshold that Wall Street would recognize immediately: it has become, by its own definition, the only full-service prime brokerage in crypto.

John D’Agostino, head of strategy at Coinbase Institutional, said the definition of a prime broker still follows a familiar Wall Street checklist: trading, custody, financing, derivatives and cross-margining. In crypto, he added, there’s an extra layer, staking. “If you can do all of those at scale, you’re a prime,” he said.

In equities and fixed income, only a handful of firms, Goldman Sachs (GS), Morgan Stanley (MS) and Bank of America (BAC), truly qualify as full-service primes, D’Agostino said. Smaller brokers can support funds, but they don’t offer the full stack. “A $100 million hedge fund isn’t getting everything from the top tier. They’re piecing it together,” he said. “The big primes do everything.”

Crypto, until recently, worked the same way, just more fragmented. Funds stitched together custody from one provider, derivatives from another, financing elsewhere. “You can synthetically replicate a prime by patching services together,” D’Agostino said. “But Coinbase is the only one doing all of it natively.”

Coinbase is the largest U.S.-based cryptocurrency exchange and a major provider of infrastructure for institutional investors, offering trading, custody and financing services through its Coinbase Institutional unit.

Its flagship platform, Coinbase Prime, bundles these functions into a single system, allowing hedge funds and asset managers to trade, store and finance digital assets under one roof. Prime holds over $350 billion in assets under custody, about 12% of the total crypto market cap, and serves as custodian for more than 80% of U.S. bitcoin and ether ETF assets.

The firm has become a key bridge between traditional finance and crypto markets, serving as custodian for a significant share of U.S. bitcoin BTC$78,023.13 and ether (ETH) exchange-traded fund (ETF) assets and operating under a growing regulatory framework, including oversight from New York regulators

Crypto prime brokers provide institutional clients with a bundled suite of services designed to mirror traditional offerings in markets like equities and FX. They help funds manage counterparty risk and access liquidity across fragmented venues. Prominent players include Coinbase Prime, Galaxy Digital (GLXY), FalconX and Anchorage Digital.

Cross-margining

The final piece fell into place in March with the rollout of cross-margining between spot and derivatives positions, allowing market makers and institutional traders to reduce capital requirements by as much as 10% to 20%. “That was the last pillar,” D’Agostino said. “Now we’re a prime by any standard, substitute crypto for any asset class.”

Coinbase’s institutional platform processes roughly $236 billion in quarterly trading volume and supports more than 470 assets across 20-plus blockchains.

Beyond trading and custody, Coinbase runs a $1 billion lending book and what D’Agostino describes as the industry’s largest listed derivatives footprint through its Deribit integration. Its staking business spans 10 to 20 tokens at institutional scale, including dedicated products through Coinbase Asset Management.

“Those are the core components. There are firms doing well in custody, others in derivatives, others in lending,” he said. “No one is solving all of those problems in one place.”

That gap has persisted in part because of crypto’s relative size. At roughly 3% to 5% of global equities and fixed income markets, it remains too small for major banks to fully commit.

D’Agostino instead expects banks and incumbents to partner. “Buy, build or rent,” he said. “Banks will rent. It’s cheaper and smarter to rent the best brand than build a so-so version.”

Longer term, that calculus could change if crypto grows to 20% or 30% of global markets. “Then you’ll see full-scale competition,” D’Agostino said. “But that’s years away.”

For now, the bigger threat isn’t Wall Street, it’s startups. “I’m less concerned about JPMorgan than I am about the next Brian Armstrong,” he added.

Read more: Coinbase, Bybit said to be working together on tokenization, custody and distribution of U.S. stocks

Bitcoin Reclaims Key MVRV Support At $73.7K — What Comes Next?

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Bitcoin Reclaims Key MVRV Support At $73.7K — What Comes Next?

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure

Bitcoin (BTC) has staged a notable recovery in April, rebounding from around $67,000 to as high as $78,000. A key highlight of this move is BTC’s successful reclaim of the $73,700 level, a zone now acting as a crucial support base for the ongoing trend, according to MVRV Pricing Bands data.

Bitcoin At Crossroads: Climb To $96,000 Or Crash To $55,000? 

The MVRV (Market Value to Realized Value) Pricing Bands are an on-chain framework that compares Bitcoin’s market price to its realized value, effectively identifying zones of overvaluation and undervaluation across market cycles. In an X post on April 25, Ali Martinez explains that Bitcoin’s reclaimed -0.5 MVRV pricing band, when it decisively surged past $73,700, marking a major technical shift.

Within this framework, the -0.5 band serves as a transitional support level; holding above it suggests the market is regaining strength, with downside risks diminishing in the short term. Martinez emphasizes that as long as BTC maintains support above $73,700, the next logical move is a push toward the mean MVRV level, currently positioned around $96,000.

However, the structure remains conditional as a breakdown below $73,700 would invalidate the current bullish bottom scenario. In such a case, Bitcoin could face renewed selling pressure, with the next major downside target aligning with the Realized Price near $55,000. This level represents the average cost basis of all circulating coins and has historically served as strong macro support during corrections.

The MVRV Price Landscape

Beyond the immediate levels, the MVRV Pricing Bands outline a broader roadmap for Bitcoin’s potential movement. Above the $96,000 mean level, the +0.5 band sits near $118,000, marking the next potential resistance zone during an extended rally. Following that, the +1.0 band, currently around $140,000, represents the extreme overvaluation zone. Historically, BTC tends to approach this level during euphoric market phases, often followed by periods of cooling or consolidation.

On the downside, the Realized Price band is positioned around $54,700, closely aligned with the previously mentioned $55,000 level. Beneath that, the -1.0 band near $51,500 marks a deeper undervaluation zone, typically associated with capitulation events or late-stage bear-market conditions. Together, these bands provide a structured view of BTC’s current positioning.

At press time, Bitcoin is trading at $78,011, up 13.01% in the last month. However, despite these gains, Bitcoin remains 38.19% away from it’s all time high of $126,198, reached in October 2025.

Bitcoin
BTC trading at $77,999 on the daily chart | Source: BTCUSDT chart on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Freepik, chart from Tradingview

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Litecoin’s 13-block reorg wasn’t a zero-day, GitHub commit history shows otherwise

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Litecoin’s 13-block reorg wasn’t a zero-day, GitHub commit history shows otherwise

A 13-block chain reorganization on LTC$56.35 late Friday and Saturday rewound roughly 32 minutes of network activity after attackers used a vulnerability in its Mimblewimble Extension Block (MWEB) protocol.

The bug had enabled a denial-of-service attack against major mining pools, allowing the invalid MWEB transactions to slip through nodes that had not updated, before the network’s longest valid chain corrected them.

The Foundation said in Asian morning hours on Sunday the bug was fully patched and the network is operating normally.

However, prominent researchers say the litecoin-project GitHub repository tells a different story. Security researcher bbsz, who works with the SEAL911 emergency response group for crypto exploits, posted the patch timeline pulled from the public commit log.

The consensus vulnerability that allowed the invalid MWEB peg-out was privately patched between March 19 and March 26, roughly four weeks before the attack. A separate denial-of-service vulnerability was patched on the morning of April 25.

Both fixes were rolled into release 0.21.5.4 the same afternoon, after the attack had already begun.

“The post-mortem says one zero-day caused a DoS that let an invalid MWEB transaction slip through,” bbsz wrote. “The git log tells a slightly different story.”

A zero-day refers to a vulnerability unknown to defenders at the time of an attack.

Litecoin’s commit history shows the consensus vulnerability was known and patched privately a month before the exploit, but the fix had not been broadcast publicly or required to all mining pools.

That created a window where some miners ran the patched code while others ran the still-vulnerable version, and the attackers appear to have known which was which.

Alex Shevchenko, CTO of NEAR Foundation’s Aurora project, raised parallel concerns in a thread.

Blockchain data showed the attacker pre-funded a wallet 38 hours before the exploit through a Binance withdrawal, with the destination address already configured to swap LTC into ETH on a decentralized exchange.

The denial-of-service attack and the MWEB bug were separate components, Shevchenko argued, with the DoS designed to take patched mining nodes offline so the unpatched ones would form the chain that included the invalid transactions.

The fact that the network automatically handled the 13-block reorganization once the DoS stopped suggests enough hashrate was running updated code to eventually overpower the attack, but only after the unpatched fork had run for 32 minutes.

A hit on Litecoin shows how attacks on various networks differ in how code maintainers and developers react to exploits. Newer chains with smaller, more centralized validator sets coordinate upgrades through chat groups and can push patches network-wide in hours.

Older proof-of-work networks like Litecoin and bitcoin rely on independent mining pools choosing when to upgrade, which works for non-urgent changes but creates a window of vulnerability when a security patch needs to reach everyone before an attacker exploits the gap.

The Litecoin Foundation has not publicly addressed the GitHub timeline as of Sunday morning.

The amount of LTC pegged out during the invalid block window and the value of any swaps completed before the reorganization reversed them have not been disclosed.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs See 9-Day Inflow Streak as Investors Show Conviction

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Spot Bitcoin ETFs See 9-Day Inflow Streak as Investors Show Conviction

US spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs) have extended their inflow momentum through late April, notching a nine-day streak amid growing investor conviction.

During the period, which spanned April 14 and April 24, total net inflows reached roughly $2.12 billion, with the strongest single-day performance on April 17, when funds attracted $663.91 million. April 14 and April 22 also posted robust gains of $411.50 million and $335.82 million, respectively.

The weakest day came on Friday, with a more modest $14.45 million in net inflows. BlackRock’s IBIT led the day with $22.88 million in inflows. In contrast, Fidelity’s FBTC recorded outflows of $1.69 million, while Bitwise’s BITB and ARK 21Shares’ ARKB saw withdrawals of $8.85 million and $9.02 million, respectively. Other funds, including Grayscale’s GBTC and smaller products, reported largely flat flows.

The April streak is the first nine-day run for spot Bitcoin (BTC) ETFs since a similar run in October, when inflows surged, including $1.21 billion on Oct. 6 and $875.6 million on Oct. 7.

Spot Bitcoin ETFs see 9-day inflow streak. Source: SoSoValue

Spot Bitcoin ETFs see 9-day inflow streak. Source: SoSoValue

The sustained inflows also come alongside a strengthening Bitcoin market, with BTC currently trading at $77,516.55, up 10.73% over the past month, according to data from CoinMarketCap.

Related: Bitcoin ETFs Surpass March Inflow Streak With $1.9B

Bitcoin ETF investors hold firm

The recent steady stream of capital has pushed flows back into positive territory for 2026, with cumulative total net inflows reaching $58.23 billion.

This trend comes even as Bitcoin remains about 35% below its record high reached in early October, ETF analyst Nate Geraci wrote in a recent post on X. He said this pattern suggests that ETF investors are taking a longer-term approach rather than reacting to short-term volatility. The continued inflows during a market drawdown point to a more resilient investor base, often described as “diamond hands” in crypto circles.

“ETF investors proving to be longer-term allocators,” he wrote.

Related: Spot Bitcoin ETFs Gain $411M as Goldman Files ETF Plan

Ether ETFs see strong inflows

US spot Ether (ETH) ETFs also maintained a strong inflow streak from April 14 through April 22, posting nine consecutive days of net positive flows. However, the streak was broken on April 23, when funds recorded net outflows of $75.94 million.

During the nine-day run from April 14 to April 22, total inflows were consistently solid, with the strongest single-day performance on April 17, when Ether ETFs attracted $127.49 million. Other standout sessions included April 22 with $96.44 million and April 20 with $67.77 million.

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The Fintech Ecosystem in the Middle East: Iraq in 2026

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The Fintech Ecosystem in the Middle East: Iraq in 2026

The following is a fintech and wider digital and economic development overview of Middle Eastern nation Iraq in 2026.

Iraq’s fintech story in 2026 is not one of overnight transformation, but of gradual reconstruction. In a country long shaped by conflict, institutional fragmentation and heavy reliance on oil revenues, digital financial services are beginning to emerge as a practical pathway towards inclusion, transparency and economic modernisation.

Iraq’s economy remains overwhelmingly dependent on hydrocarbons, with oil accounting for over 90 per cent of government revenue and export earnings. The country’s gross domestic product (GDP) per capita stands at around $6,500, reflecting resource wealth but also uneven development and high unemployment.

Digital economic transformation: rebuilding through technology

Iraq’s digital transformation is still in its early stages, but momentum has been building, especially since 2024. Recognising the need to diversify its economy and improve service delivery, the government has increasingly prioritised digital infrastructure and financial inclusion within its broader development agenda.

Key focus areas have been around expanding telecommunications and internet access, digitising government payments and services, and encouraging private-sector participation in digital finance.

Internet penetration has reached approximately 75 per cent with mobile penetration exceeding 90 per cent, creating a foundation for digital services.

Programmes supported by international institutions, including the World Bank, have also emphasised digitalisation as a tool for improving governance, reducing corruption and enhancing economic participation.

Financial services sector: transitioning from cash to digital

Baghdad, Iraq – A lot of people on Baghdad street IMAGE SOURCE GETTY

The country’s financial hub is Baghdad, where the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) and major financial institutions are based. The banking sector, estimates of 85 per cent of total assets, is controlled by state-owned institutions – notably with Rafidain Bank, Rasheed Bank, and the Trade Bank of Iraq (TBI).

Iraq’s financial system has historically been underdeveloped and heavily cash-based. Limited banking infrastructure, low trust in institutions and high levels of informality have constrained financial inclusion. However, digital financial services are beginning to reshape the sector.

Mobile wallets, electronic payment systems and card-based transactions are gaining traction, supported by both banks and fintech providers. This shift has been accelerated by government efforts to digitise salary payments and reduce reliance on cash.

The CBI has played a central role in driving this transition the past few years. Key initiatives include:

  • Expansion of electronic payment systems – The CBI has promoted the adoption of electronic payments, including POS systems and digital wallets, to reduce cash dependency.
  • Salary digitisation programmes – Government salaries and pensions have increasingly been paid electronically, improving transparency and encouraging the use of banking services.
  • Regulation of payment service providers – The CBI has strengthened licensing and oversight of electronic payment companies, creating a more structured fintech environment.
  • Financial inclusion strategy implementation – Iraq has continued to advance its national financial inclusion strategy, focusing on expanding access to banking services and digital payments.
  • Early-stage exploration of open banking and digital frameworks – While still nascent, there is growing interest in data-sharing frameworks and interoperability, particularly as the ecosystem matures.

As noted in coverage from The Fintech Times, Iraq’s fintech ecosystem is increasingly shaped by policy-led efforts to digitise payments and modernise financial infrastructure, rather than purely startup-driven innovation.

Financial inclusion and fintech

According to the World Bank, financial inclusion in Iraq remains relatively low. Estimates suggest that approximately 30 per cent of adults have access to a formal bank account, among the lowest levels in the region.

However, digital financial services are beginning to expand access, particularly through mobile wallets, government payment digitization, and agent banking and POS networks.

Barriers to inclusion include remain. They include challenges with limited banking infrastructure, distrust in financial institutions, and high levels of informality and cash usage.

Fintech is helping to address these challenges by providing accessible, low-cost entry points into the financial system, particularly for younger and urban populations.

Iraq’s fintech ecosystem remains small but is gradually expanding, with an estimated of 50 fintech and digital financial service providers operating primarily in payments and digital banking.

Key players include: Zain Cash (Mobile wallet platform enabling payments, transfers and financial services), AsiaHawala (Digital payment solutions and financial services), FastPay (Mobile payments, remittances and merchant services), and Qi Card (Government payments, salaries and social benefits).

These companies highlight a key characteristic of Iraq’s fintech landscape: growth driven by payments and government-linked platforms, rather than a large, diversified startup ecosystem.

Conclusion: digital finance as a rebuilding tool

Iraq’s fintech journey is still at an early stage, but its significance is clear.

Despite regional challenges, digital financial services are beginning to expand access, improve transparency and reduce reliance on cash. While challenges remain, fintech offers a pathway towards a more inclusive and modern financial system. This supports Iraq’s broader economic recovery and long-term resilience.

Memecoin Millionaires Line Up For Trump’s Exclusive Luncheon

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Memecoin Millionaires Line Up For Trump’s Exclusive Luncheon

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A crypto investor who paid just $500 got a seat at the table. That detail alone tells you something about the crowd gathering at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday.

A Token That Lost 93% Of Its Value

Morten Christensen, who attended a similar event in 2025 after a $1,200 bet on US President Donald Trump’s memecoin, scored his way back in for a fraction of that cost.

He’s candid about the mood shift. “Trump is much less liked right now than he was after inauguration,” Christensen told Bloomberg.

“With the whole year of tariffs, crypto is bleeding, his reputation within the crypto community is not as good.”

The TRUMP token, officially called Official Trump, has dropped more than 93% from its all-time high of roughly $45 to under $3.

Source: gettrumpmemes.com

Despite that collapse, up to 297 top holders of the coin are expected to join Trump at his Florida estate for what organizers are calling the “Memecoin Millionaires Line Up for Trump’s Exclusive Luncheon” — a private gathering that critics say is really about buying face time with a sitting president.

The guest list reads like a who’s who of crypto finance: Tether CEO Paolo Ardoino, Upbit founder ChiHyung Song, Bitcoin advocate Anthony Pompliano, and Anchorage Digital CEO Nathan McCauley are all reported to be attending.

TRUMPUSDT currently trading at $2.56. Chart: TradingView

The Absent Name At The Top Of The Leaderboard

One name is conspicuously missing from the confirmed list. Tron founder Justin Sun sits atop the TRUMP memecoin leaderboard with 2.4 billion points — more than anyone else — yet no public confirmation of his attendance has been made.

That silence comes after Sun filed a lawsuit this week against World Liberty Financial, the crypto platform co-founded by Trump’s sons.

The Mar-A-Lago estate. Source: Airial | AI Travel Planner

Sun alleges the platform froze his tokens and threatened to destroy them without valid reason. He described himself as an “ardent supporter” of Trump while blaming unnamed project team members for acting against the president’s values.

Ethics Watchdogs Raise Conflict Of Interest Concerns

Lawmakers and nonpartisan watchdog groups have criticized the Saturday gathering, arguing that Trump is using a financial product he personally profits from to offer access to the presidency.

The nonprofit Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington went further, pointing out in a Friday post that crypto wallets linked to the TRUMP token have moved money in ways that make it hard to trace how much the president is earning.

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from TradingView

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Why Bitcoin Still Acts Like A Risk Asset Despite Safe-Haven Claims

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Why Bitcoin Still Acts Like A Risk Asset Despite Safe-Haven Claims

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Bitcoin was built with many of the qualities typically associated with a safe-haven asset: it is portable, censorship-resistant, and independent of traditional financial systems. In theory, those characteristics make a compelling case for BTC as a refuge in times of instability, particularly in a world facing geopolitical tensions, inflation risks, and growing uncertainty around legacy institutions.

How Long It Might Take For Bitcoin To Be Widely Accepted

The idea that most Bitcoiners believe Bitcoin is already a full-fledged safe-haven asset misses an important nuance. Crypto analyst Willy Woo has mentioned on X that when an asset is independent of the system and thrives even if the system collapses, there are certain properties that should be expected of a true safe-haven asset. Meanwhile, BTC clearly carries these properties.

In extreme scenarios, such as war, a seed phrase can preserve wealth across borders. Despite its characteristics, Bitcoin still tends to trade like a risk asset during periods of uncertainty and war. BTC is sensitive to uncertainty, trading like the NASDAQ Composite.

Willy explained that this is because the large capital pools don’t acknowledge their properties, and BTC is considered new and untested. It will take another decade for BTC to gain market acceptance as a safe-haven. When BTC does, it will compete with gold market capitalization as a dominant store of value in the modern financial system.

Bitcoin
Source: Chart from Willy Woo on X

Bitcoin is showing clear signs of weakness after forming a bearish market structure shift (MSS) at the highs. Instead of continuing its uptrend, the price has now broken back into its previous range, marking it the first real loss of momentum since the rally began. According to ctm_trader, this shift clearly shows that the price is losing its strength and has now turned to a potential retest of the lower boundary of the channel.

However, with the MSS at the highs, most liquidity is sitting below the current price levels, while long positions heavily outweigh shorts. The probability of a breakdown is much higher than the probability of continuation. For market makers, this is a perfect opportunity for a long squeeze as there is a massive market imbalance right now.

What The Monthly FVG Rejection May Be Signaling

A similar trade setup that has repeated multiple times throughout this bear market may be setting up once again. Crypto trader Minga highlighted that BTC price is still trading inside the bear-flag rising wedge structure and currently rejecting from the monthly fair value gap (FVG).

As long as BTC remains within this pattern and continues to reject the FVG, the broader downside thesis remains intact. Every push into resistance has looked more like a relief rally than true strength.

With momentum shifting back toward the downside, the market is likely preparing for another leg lower. Meanwhile, this structure setup will remain clean until BTC breaks out of the formation and reclaims resistance with strength.

Bitcoin
BTC trading at $77,784 on the 1D chart | Source: BTCUSDT on Tradingview.com

Featured image from Getty Images, chart from Tradingview.com

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