Minseung Kang

Veteran trader Peter Brandt, known for accurately calling Bitcoin’s (BTC) 2018 crash, has pointed to the potential for further gains ahead. According to crypto-focused outlet U.Today on the 10th, Brandt said in a recently released analysis of Bitcoin’s long-term chart that “a substantial portion of selling pressure has been exhausted following the sharp decline in late January and early February this year,” adding that “the market is showing a gradual basing process within a volatile range-bound phase.” He explained that “rather than a sharp V-shaped rebound, Bitcoin is building a base in the form of a gentle rising channel,” and that “even during the recent pullback, the price reached precisely the lower support zone of the long-term uptrend curve.” Brandt analyzed that “this support zone has historically acted as a floor before the start of major rallies,” and that “the current short-term basing process is unfolding above the long-term support line.” He cautioned, however, that “Bitcoin is still in the phase of testing the upper end of the recent range near $70,000, so the uptrend has not been confirmed,” adding that “whether it rises further will depend on a breakout of this level and market momentum.”

An analysis suggests that Bitcoin (BTC) is increasingly likely to return to the $70,000–$80,000 price range after holding key support levels despite recent geopolitical tensions and a broader pullback in global financial markets. On the 10th, crypto-asset (cryptocurrency) services firm Matrixport said in a market analysis posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “Bitcoin has broadly remained range-bound since early February,” adding that “even as geopolitical tensions have risen, U.S. employment indicators have weakened, and global equities have generally undergone a correction, Bitcoin is still showing strong resilience.” It continued, “Despite a sharp jump in international oil prices over the weekend, Bitcoin fell only to around the $66,000 support level, and that price zone continues to act as support,” explaining that “the likelihood is gradually increasing that Bitcoin will regain bullish momentum and return to the $70,000–$80,000 trading range.” Matrixport added that as the market gradually absorbs the Iran-related geopolitical shock, Bitcoin may be able to recover back to the upper trading range.

The Flow (FLOW) Foundation has filed for a court injunction to block domestic crypto exchanges from ending trading support, as the token’s price posts a sharp short-term surge. According to industry sources on the 10th, the Flow Foundation on the 9th filed an application with the Seoul Central District Court for an injunction to suspend the effectiveness of delisting measures, requesting that Upbit, Bithumb and other domestic exchanges halt their decisions to end trading support for FLOW. The scheduled date for the end of trading support is the 16th. The news sent FLOW sharply higher. According to CoinMarketCap, FLOW was trading at $0.06231 as of the day, up about 50.28% over the past 24 hours. Meanwhile, the foundation said trading support for FLOW remains in place as normal on major global exchanges. It added that Binance recently announced a joint resolution plan with the Flow Foundation and removed its monitoring tag, and that HTX has confirmed the same measure.

All of the roughly 320 bitcoins (BTC) that were recovered after being stolen during access to a phishing site have been sold and transferred to the state treasury. According to the industry on the 10th, the Gwangju District Prosecutors’ Office is said to have sold, in stages over about 11 days from the 24th of last month through the 6th, 320.88 bitcoins it recovered last month, transferring a total of KRW 31.58863 billion to the state treasury. The bitcoins were assets prosecutors had seized and kept in custody as criminal proceeds. However, circumstances indicating they were stolen and moved outside during access to a phishing site in August last year were reportedly confirmed. After identifying the theft, prosecutors pinpointed the wallet to which the bitcoins had been moved and, in cooperation with domestic and overseas virtual-asset exchanges, blocked transactions. They then succeeded in recovering the assets on the 19th of last month. Meanwhile, prosecutors are conducting an investigation into the operator of the phishing site and related domain registration firms, among others.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly reclaimed $70,000. As of 15:25 on the 10th, BTC was trading at $70,135 on Binance’s USDT market, up 3.97% from the previous day (₩102.8 million on Upbit). Meanwhile, according to CryptoPrice, the kimchi premium for major digital assets (cryptocurrencies) including Bitcoin (BTC) stood at -0.25%.

Trump: "The war is in its final stages" Funds that had been flocking to the dollar, a safe haven Shift toward risk assets Treasury yields also pare gains Gold rises on expectations of a prolonged upswing Major financial assets including Bitcoin (BTC) and the dollar swung sharply as expectations for an end to the war spread after US President Donald Trump said the Iran war would soon be over. After Trump said in a phone interview with US broadcaster CBS on the 9th (local time) that he believes "the war is in its final stages," the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index slipped 0.1%. The dollar index, which measures the greenback against six major currencies, also fell about 0.27% on the day. The move reflects that some of the funds that had rushed into the US dollar as a safe haven during the crisis shifted into risk assets. Pat Roach, an FX strategist at JPMorgan Chase, said, "Trump’s remarks were a welcome sense of relief for markets that had been under pressure," adding, "We’ll have to see whether this situation actually persists." US Treasury yields, also viewed as a safe haven, pared gains. The 10-year Treasury yield, which had jumped intraday to as high as 4.21%, ended at 4.09%, down about 0.04% point. Early in the war, concerns about inflation driven by a surge in oil prices kept upward pressure on Treasury yields. But as views emerged that the war could end sooner than expected, some of the tension in markets eased. Gold and silver rebounded. As of 9:17 a.m. Korea time on the 10th, April-delivery gold futures were at $5,144 per ounce, up 0.8% from the previous session. Silver futures rebounded 3.7%. Although war concerns have eased somewhat, this is seen as reflecting investors’ continued conviction in gold’s long-term uptrend. Bitcoin also turned higher. According to cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase, at the same time Bitcoin was at $68,972, rebounding 3.9% from 24 hours earlier. Vipin Rai, a managing director at BMO Asset Management, said, "From the market’s perspective, some of the possibility of an extreme rise in energy prices has been removed, but it hasn’t disappeared entirely." New York=Park Shin-young, correspondent nyusos@hankyung.com

Zcash (ZEC) ecosystem development group Zcash Open Development Lab (ZODL) has raised a seed investment of more than $25 million. On the 9th, ZODL said on X (formerly Twitter) that it had secured more than $25 million in funding. Investors in the round included Paradigm, a16z crypto, Winklevoss Capital, Coinbase Ventures, Cypherpunk Technologies, Maelstrom and Chapter One. Individual investors including Balaji Srinivasan, David Friedberg and Haseeb Qureshi were also named among the backers. ZODL was founded by Josh Swihart, former chief executive officer (CEO) of Electric Coin Company. He previously led the launch of the Zcash wallet “Zodl” (formerly Zashi). The wallet is seen as critical infrastructure for improving Zcash usability. Alongside Zcash protocol development, ZODL is pursuing ecosystem expansion centered on its wallet platform, Zodl. In particular, it plans to expand Zcash shielded transactions through various partnerships, with the goal of building an open-source, self-custodial privacy finance platform. With the new funding, ZODL plans to scale hiring and expand technology development. The company said the investment “reflects investors’ confidence in privacy technology and the growth of the Zcash ecosystem.”

In the Bitcoin (BTC) market, the possibility of a 'bull trap' is being raised following a short-term rebound. According to CoinMarketCap on X (formerly Twitter) on the 9th, on-chain analyst Willy Woo said the recent rebound in Bitcoin’s price could turn into a bull trap that lures in investors. Willy Woo said, "A Bitcoin bull trap may be forming, and this trend could continue through April." He added that, from a liquidity perspective, the current market structure still retains the characteristics of a bear market. Willy Woo explained, "From a liquidity standpoint, Bitcoin is still in the middle of a bear market."

Bitcoin (BTC) mining output has surpassed 20 million coins. According to BlockBeats, a digital-asset (cryptocurrency) news outlet, on-chain data show that at block height 939,999 on the 9th, Bitcoin’s mined supply exceeded 20 million. It is a major milestone reached about 17 years and 2 months after the Bitcoin genesis block was created in January 2009. The current block reward stands at 3.125 BTC. Previously, in November last year, about 95% of the total supply was reported to have already been issued. Bitcoin has a structure in which total issuance is capped at 21 million coins. Remaining mining rewards have now fallen to less than 1 million BTC. As the network goes through multiple future halving events, the pace of new issuance will gradually slow. The next halving is expected around April 11, 2028. As halvings proceed, the remaining supply will be released to the market at an even slower pace. Meanwhile, analysts estimate it will take more than 100 years to mine the final 1 million BTC. Satoshis—the smallest unit of Bitcoin—are projected to be issued until around 2140.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly regained the $69,000 level. As of 22:34 on the 9th, based on the Binance USDT market, BTC was trading at $68,790, up 2.55% from the previous day (KRW 101.3 million on the Upbit exchange). Meanwhile, according to Cryprice, the Korea premium for major crypto assets (cryptocurrencies) including Bitcoin (BTC) is at -0.69%.

Major strategic bitcoin and ethereum reserve companies appear to be in the red on an unrealized basis. According to details posted on X (formerly Twitter) on the 9th by on-chain-focused account EmberCN, bitcoin treasury strategy firm Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy) holds a total of 738,731 BTC. Its average purchase price is $75,862, implying an unrealized valuation loss of about $5.907bn at current levels. BitMine, the world’s largest corporate holder of ethereum, holds a total of 4,534,563 ETH. With an average purchase price of $3,735, it is estimated to be sitting on an unrealized valuation loss of about $7.885bn at current levels. Last week, both companies continued accumulating despite being in loss territory. Strategy bought an additional 17,994 BTC at an average price of $70,946, while BitMine purchased another 60,976 ETH at an average price of $2,021. At current prices, the value of their holdings stands at about $50.134bn for Strategy and about $9.051bn for BitMine.

SharpLink Gaming, which strategically holds Ethereum (ETH) as a reserve asset, posted $28.10 million in revenue last year, but reported a net loss of $734.60 million due to valuation losses on Ethereum. According to GlobeNewswire on the 9th, SharpLink’s 2025 revenue rose sharply to $28.10 million from the prior year’s $3.70 million. However, as valuation losses tied to the decline in the price of Ethereum (ETH) were reflected, net loss came to $734.60 million. The company said accounting treatment reflected $616.20 million in unrealized losses and $140.20 million in impairment charges related to LsETH. It added that these losses are based on valuation standards and do not mean its ETH holdings decreased. Fourth-quarter staking revenue totaled $15.30 million, up about 50% from the third quarter’s $10.30 million. As of Dec. 31 last year, the company held 864,597 ETH. As of the 1st, total holdings increased to 868,699 ETH. The company said it is currently the world’s second-largest publicly listed corporate holder of ETH. Previously, SharpLink officially launched an ETH-focused treasury strategy in June last year. It said it has since built an in-house investment team to directly run staking and liquidity strategies. Over the full year 2025, it generated total staking rewards of 14,516 ETH. The metric 'ETH Concentration (ETH per share),' which refers to ETH holdings per share, increased from 2.0 to 4.01. At year-end, it held $28.50 million in cash and $1.90 million in USDC. The institutional ownership ratio expanded from about 6% to 46%. Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Joseph Shallom said, "Despite short-term volatility, we will continue our strategy of increasing ETH per share." Board Chairman Joseph Lubin said, "Institutional adoption of Ethereum is accelerating." The company said it will continue its strategy of increasing per-share ETH holdings and expanding staking income.

BitMine, the world’s largest corporate holder of Ethereum (ETH), said it has expanded its ETH holdings to more than 4.53 million. According to PR Newswire on the 9th, BitMine said it purchased an additional 60,976 ETH over the past week. As of the 8th (local time), BitMine held 4,534,563 ETH. This amounts to about 3.76% of total Ethereum supply (120.70 million). Valued at an ETH price of $1,965, the stake is worth roughly $8.9 billion. BitMine’s long-term goal is to secure 5% of ETH supply. Tom Lee, chairman of BitMine, said, “Despite recent war concerns and a surge in oil prices, Ethereum has shown resilience,” adding, “We view the current phase as the latter part or final stage of a ‘mini crypto winter.’” Citing analysis by BitMine adviser Tom DeMark (DeMark Analytics), Lee explained that “ETH’s price action resembles the bottoming patterns of the S&P 500 in 2011 and 1987.” Lee said, “The correlation coefficients of the price paths in the two periods are 89% and 93%, respectively,” adding, “If this similarity holds, ETH could form a bottom between the 8th and the 14th, potentially below the recent low of $1,740.” “No one rings a bell at the bottom,” he said, adding that BitMine is “slightly increasing the pace of ETH accumulation.” He noted that the recent weekly average purchase size had been around 45,000 to 50,000, but rose to 60,976 this week. BitMine is currently staking 3,040,483 ETH, worth about $6.0 billion at $1,965. The company estimated that applying a 2.91% yield as of the 7th would translate into annual staking rewards of about $259 million. Annualized staking income is estimated at about $174 million. The Composite Ethereum Staking Rate (CESR) was tallied at 2.84%. BitMine plans to launch its proprietary staking solution, the “Made in America Validator Network (MAVAN),” in the first quarter of 2026. The company said it is currently working with three staking partners. Meanwhile, BitMine’s total holdings of digital assets and cash were tallied at $10.3 billion. In addition to ETH, it holds 195 Bitcoin, a $200 million stake in Beast Industries, a $14 million stake in Eightco Holdings, and $1.2 billion in cash.

Bitcoin (BTC) has rebounded to around $74,000 recently, and large holders appear to have sold a significant portion of their positions. According to a post CoinMarketCap shared on X (formerly Twitter) on the 9th, on-chain analytics firm Santiment said it had observed that "whale investors moved to sell during the latest upswing in Bitcoin's price." Santiment added, "When Bitcoin whales saw the price reach $74,000, they sold about 66% of the coins they had accumulated recently." By contrast, retail investors appear to be buying during downturns. Santiment said, "Retail investors are stepping in to buy when prices fall," adding that "this pattern is typically interpreted as a signal that the correction may not be over yet."

Strategy (formerly MicroStrategy), led by Michael Saylor, said it has purchased an additional 17,994 bitcoins (BTC). Saylor said on X (formerly Twitter) on the 9th, "Strategy purchased (last week) 17,994 bitcoins for about $1.28 billion," adding that "the average purchase price was about $70,946 per coin." He continued, "As of the 8th, Strategy holds a total of 738,731 BTC," and added, "The total purchase amount is about $56.04 billion, and the average purchase price is about $75,862."

XRP’s price has remained in a prolonged downtrend, leaving roughly 60% of the circulating supply in the red. According to CryptoPotato, a crypto-focused media outlet, on-chain analytics firm Glassnode estimated that as of March 8 about 36.8 billion XRP were sitting in a loss zone. That represents roughly 60% of the total circulating supply, with unrealized losses in dollar terms estimated at about $50.8 billion. The metric is based on the gap between the price when tokens last moved on-chain and the current market price—an “unrealized profit and loss” indicator. By reflecting each coin’s acquisition price, it is used to gauge investors’ average cost basis and to track shifts in market sentiment across cycles. XRP is currently trading around $1.34, down more than 63% from its all-time high of $3.65 set in July last year. On a yearly basis, it is down about 42%. Some analysts say the widening loss zone could translate into selling pressure if prices rebound, as investors may opt to sell around their average entry levels. There are also signs of relatively subdued trading activity in the spot market. Data released by the on-chain analytics account Arab Chain show Binance’s 30-day volume Z-score at about -1.16, indicating that recent daily trading volume has been below average. Market outlooks remain divided. EGRAG Crypto, an analyst active on X (formerly Twitter), said that “XRP’s cycle has repeatedly followed a structure that includes declines and extended consolidation,” and interpreted the current phase as “time-based capitulation.” Meanwhile, some analysts view the current period as a phase of psychological recalibration through prolonged consolidation, and have also raised the possibility of a new expansion phase thereafter.

Bitcoin (BTC) briefly recovered to $68,000. As of 18:28 on the 9th, BTC was trading at $67,919, up 0.20% from the previous day, on Binance’s USDT market (₩100,035,000 on Upbit). Meanwhile, according to CryptoPrice, the kimchi premium for major cryptoassets (cryptocurrencies) including Bitcoin (BTC) stood at -0.70% on the day.